Chief Officers’ Expenses: Recent Relevant Conviction

Chief Officers’ Expenses: Recent Relevant Conviction

by TIM HICKS

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Introduction

Following from my last article “NYP: The Missing $2.7 Million”, which summarised various financial scandals over the years concerning misuse of NYP funds by Senior Police Officers, I had hoped that it would be the last article in the series.

This is because I find it depressing writing about the same issues of misconduct and watching them be swept under the carpet, first by successive Police, Fire & Crime Commissioners and now by the Deputy Mayor for Policing, Fire & Crime, Ms Jo Coles (pictured below).

Deputy Mayor for Policing, Fire & Crime, Ms Jo Coles

Now – hearteningly – a case has emerged which I find encouraging and which justifies the NYE’s articles raising the issue of misuse of Police funds.

Police Scotland Solicitor Convicted of Fraud

The Police Scotland solicitor Ms Asma Ali (pictured top) has been convicted of fraud in Glasgow after she used Police funds to pay for flights and rail travel to London and stays in hotels for private purposes over a two-year period between 2017 and 2019.

Asma Ali escaped a prison sentence but was sentenced to perform 160 hours of unpaid work and to ordered pay back the £8,000 she had embezzled.

I find this encouraging, because it shows that Police Scotland is an organization that is committed to financial control and will intervene to bring to book those Senior officials that betray the public’s trust.

This is in sharp contrast to North Yorkshire, where:

• Senior Officers and senior members of civilian staff ignore normal levels of financial control and spend Police funds without supervision.
• The Deputy Mayor, the NYP Assistant Chief Officer and NYP Chief Financial Officer acquiesce to this and do not uphold normal standards of financial control.
• No one will comment on the expenditure, so it is not subject to public scrutiny.

The Case for Repayment

Some of the allegations of which Ms Ali was convicted are similar to the issues raised by the NYE’s investigations over the years; booking of flights and hotel accommodation allegedly for personal reasons unconnected with NYP duties. They are specified below:

We have never had a response to these concerns either from North Yorkshire Police; the Senior Officers concerned; the former Police Authority; the Polic, Fire & Crime Commissioner at the time, or now Deputy Mayor Coles.

Although some of the issues of alleged misspending by NYP Senior Police )fficers raised by the NYE over the years are fraudulent, we have never pressed for criminal charges to be preferred against the Officers concerned, as happened in the case of Ms Ali. Unquestionably, some of these issues result from oversight or a misunderstanding of what can be charged to expenses. However, the NYE has pressed and will continue to press for the Officers concerned to either justify their expenditure openly, or repay the money – as Ms Ali has been forced to do.

Leadership by Example – the NYP Way

Accordingly, herewith I invite NYP Chief Constable Forber, NYP Assistant Chief Officer Stitt, Chief Financial Officer Branford-White and/or Deputy Mayor Coles to respond to the NYE with a justification for the expenditure contained in the above spreadsheet, or confirmation that the individuals concerned have been asked to repay the money. Should such a response be received then it will be published in full in the NYE.

However, don’t hold out your hopes.

It would be impossible for NYP’s very own car-wash king Chief Constable Forber or any of his subordinates to write requesting repayment of expenses, when he himself is the subject of these concerns. So pardon me a cynical moment, but I predict that there will just be the usual deafening silence, my invitation will be ignored and the public will be denied information that they are entitled to have. It appears that under this Deputy Mayor, Senior Police Officers will continue to misuse public funds with impunity, as they always have done.

Right of Reply

If you are mentioned in this article and do not agree with the views expressed in it, or wish to correct any factual inaccuracy, please let me know using the letters@nyenquirer.uk email address and your views and/or a correction will be published if appropriate.