Inquiry's legacy still lingers says councillor

A SENIOR Walsall politician has spoken out after investigations into an alleged misspending of £42 million by Walsall Council were dropped.

After five years of investigations, the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the case into the council's spending of Neighbourhood Renewal Fund money.

But the leader of Walsall Labour group, councillor Tim Oliver, believes the matter will hang over the local authority.

He said: "Over five years on the trail is inevitably cold – but nevertheless the police clearly considered it serious enough to spend thousands of pounds on a detailed investigation, and council officers have no doubt spent many hours searching through dusty archives. Subsequently this was passed onto the Crown Prosecution Service, whose code requires them to consider whether there is enough evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction for criminal offences.

"It therefore comes as no surprise to us (although some may beg to differ) that there will be no prosecution.

"Nevertheless we believe that this whole unsavoury episode shows us the mess that our Conservative Walsall Council had got into – and we believe the council is still dealing with the legacy of organisational culture that went with this state of affairs."

Following the clearing of the council's name, its leader Cllr Mike Bird said: "I am particularly pleased that the investigation was subject to an independent review by the City of London Police."

But Cllr Oliver believes there is nothing to pleased about.

He added: "Sorry, Cllr Bird, but Walsall Labour believes that there is absolutely nothing with which to be pleased about this whole affair, from which only a very few walk away with any credit.

"Of course, we all hope that lessons have been learned."

And he warned: "But, much as you might like it to go away, we may not actually have heard the last of all this."