Time to come clean over fraud
Lambeth’s Labour councillors are putting pressure on the ruling Liberal Democrats to come clean about the £3 million fraud which has thrown the Council into crisis. Lambeth Liberal Democrat councillors have issued statements claiming the Council’s own internal checks discovered the massive fraud. Labour is demanding proof of this as there are concerns the Council’s anti-fraud systems were not, in fact, working. Liberal Democrats are desperate to avoid the blame for losing £3 million of council taxpayers’ money. But evidence of severe financial and managerial incompetence is mounting. Labour has asked the Liberal Democrats to confirm precisely what checks were carried out on the fraudster’s background and on the work the £3 million was supposed to pay for to justify their claims that the Council’s control systems are fundamentally sound. Eyebrows were further raised this Monday when the Leader of Lambeth council claimed he couldn’t guarantee that the fraud would not occur again because, he said, “I’m not God”. The Leader of Lambeth’s Labour Opposition, Councillor Steve Reed said: “Isn’t it bad enough that Liberal Democrat incompetence has seen £3 million of council taxpayers’ money go down the drain? Now they are trying to cover their backsides by making claims without being able to show us any evidence.” “Press reports say the Liberal Democrats
failed to carry out any proper checks on this fraudster or his fake company
before handing over millions of pounds of public money. Lambeth is desperate
for strong action and firm leadership – but all we get from the
Lib Dems is lame excuses.”
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