Councillors Y and Z – and their “coalition” colleagues past and present – have some very serious explaining to do.
Read the Waltham Forest Guardian’s take on Waltham Forest Council’s Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF)/ Better Neighbourhoods Initiative (BNI) scandal HERE and the BBC’s report HERE.
Download and read the independent report (which only scratches the surface) HERE.
THURSDAY 3RD DECEMBER 2009 UPDATE – HERE and HERE.
FRIDAY 4TH DECEMBER 2009 UPDATE – HERE.
MONDAY 11TH JANUARY 2010 UPDATE – HERE.
FRIDAY 15TH JANUARY 2010 UPDATE – HERE.
THURSDAY 21ST JANUARY 2010 UPDATE – PRIVATE EYE (22 January – 4 Feb. 2010 (No.1254), Pg 13, Rotten Boroughs section – reproduced below)
‘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.
Kerrrching!’
THURSDAY 28TH JANUARY 2010 UPDATE – HERE.
SUNDAY 31ST JANUARY 2010 UPDATE – HERE.
TUESDAY 2ND FEBRUARY 2010 UPDATE – HERE.
WEDNESDAY 17TH FEBRUARY 2010 UPDATE – HERE.