Council backs watchdog probe of fraud investigation

Medway councillors have voted to ask a police watchdog to intervene in the handling of a major fraud investigation.

Members of Medway Council will ask the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) to investigate why detectives dropped a case into accusations of financial wrongdoing at Medway Commercial Group (MCG) after seven years.

Kent Police said it was shelving the case as it did not meet the evidential standards to proceed, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Medway Council will write to the IOPC complaining the investigation was "poorly resourced, ineffectively conducted and managed, and lacked the characteristics of a thorough, effective and/or efficient process".

Concerns about MCG, the council's former trading arm, were first raised by a whistleblower.

The proposal was approved unanimously at a full council meeting on Thursday with leader Vince Maple saying it was not a step any authority wished to take.

He said: "On an operational level, Medway Council and Kent Police have a good working relationship – but on this case, in this investigation, Kent Police have badly let down the taxpayers of Medway."

MCG began acting as the council's trading arm in December 2015, responsible for delivering services such as CCTV.

In October 2018, the whistleblower made contact with the authority's chief legal officer to raise concerns that some officers were potentially using the company for personal gain.

Papers published ahead of the meeting named senior staff and MCG board members, chairman Andrew Mackness, chief executive Ian Price and Vikram Sahdev.

Although questioned by fraud officers, there was no formal finding that they had done anything wrong. None of the men have been charged over the matter.

In a statement last week, Mackness denied any wrongdoing whatsoever, while Sahdev declined to comment. Attempts to approach Price have so far been unsuccessful.

Typically, a request for the IOPC to investigatewould be sent to Police and Crime Commissioner, Matthew Scott.

However, Mackness previously acted as his election agent, so to avoid any possible conflict of interest, the matter is being referred directly to the IOPC.

There is no suggestion Scott has done anything wrong.

Follow BBC Kent on Facebook, on X, on Instagram and listen to BBC Radio Kent on Sounds. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.