‘Munificent Seven

Question: WHEN millions of pounds of public money go missing, what does any self-respecting council do? Answer: Hold an inquiry. Unless the council is Waltham Forest, where so much dosh has gone astray it has held seven.

The most recent, headed by Sir Peter Rogers, chief executive of the London Development Agency, has concluded that money is still going awol due to poor procedures, lack of accountability and fraud. It remains a mystery where millions of pounds – no one is sure how much – of government money handed out under the Better Neighbourhoods Initiative (BNI) to help children in deprived wards ended up.

When auditors investigated allegations that several millions has been diverted from its intended purpose and spent on the Olympics instead, they found files that had been doctored and were “incomplete”.

Another inquiry conducted by PriceWaterhouseCoopers found that of 105 contracts awarded under the BNI, only three were done by the book. For example, a one-day event for teachers, organised by “community cohesion adviser” Munir Zamir, cost £26,000. Guest speakers were paid £6,000; “marketing”, “refreshments”, and a “Q&A session” all cost £3,000 each. Which makes a grand total of £15,000. Where the other £11,000 went has not been explained.

So far Waltham Forest’s hunt-the-money game has itself cost at least £100,000.