It was confirmed this week that the Metropolitan Police (Crime No. 6507270/10) have begun an investigation into alleged offences under the Fraud Act, and Gross Misconduct in Public Office against two senior officers in Westminster City Council.
The case concerns the awarding of a multi million-pound parking enforcement contract to private firm NSL Services. European Union law says that contracts worth more than £156,442 must be opened to tender to any interested company and advertised in the EU's official journal. Westminster's parking contract is worth about £13m a year, and was previously being carried out by private parking firm NCP.
In 2007 NCP was sold and broken up into smaller companies, and a new firm, NSL Services, was then created. It is alleged that at that point the contract was given directly to the new company without going through proper tendering processes.
It took Westminster Council over 6 weeks to produce a copy of the Deed of Novation, which WCC claimed had been signed in March 2008. In addition, the novation was apparently sanctioned by an officer who had no delegated power to do so from the Council Cabinet Member, and with no involvement from the legal department. During meetings with the District Auditor, at which it was suggested that the supposed novation could have been deliberately backdated to avoid scrutiny by the DA, Mr Djanogly was told that any evidence of alleged fraud or misconduct MUST be handed to the police.
No other councils to date have been able to provide written evidence of officially recognising NCP Services in March 2007 when it assumed responsibility for the enforcement contracts.
The complaint was lodged by Warren Djanogly, Chairman of the No To Bike Parking Tax Campaign. He stated:
"It was my civic duty to take the evidence collected to the proper authority. I have had no other course of action other than to bring this matter to the attention of the police."
There was anger at a statement from Mike More, Chief Executive of Westminster Council, in which he said that the complaint was "part of an ongoing campaign by a motorbike protest group". Charlie Lort-Phillips, spokesman for NTBPT, said:
"To write this off as simply part of a spat with motorcyclists, when in fact there are serious questions to be asked over the handling of massive tenders is reprehensible. This is not 'part of the campaign', this is a complaint brought on the advice of the District Auditor as a result of major questions over the way this council has acted."
Warren Djanogly added:
"Mike More has now gone on record claiming that he is 'confident that the parking contract was properly let by our officers' when in August last year Peter Large wrote in a letter that 'the process by which the City Council entered into the Deed of Novation was, as
you have suggested, flawed.' "
Neil Herron, a veteran parking campaigner, said:
“Should it be proven that these contracts were in breach of procurement procedures then this must surely render PCN’s issued by NSL since 2007 void and unenforceable. As such, any Council unjustly enriched in this way should repatriate these funds immediately."
The No To Bike Parking Tax Campaign, meanwhile, has another demonstration planned for the 9th March, to coincide with Westminster Council's £23,000 civic dinner - an event roundly condemned as it comes on the back of 300 redundancies, and when the council faces a £22million overspend.
