POLICE PROBE CREDIT CARD MISUSE AT CUMBERLAND COUNCIL

By Bill Billing

CUMBRIA Police are investigating the misuse of corporate credit cards at Cumberland Council.

News that tens of thousands of pounds of unexplained spending had taken place at the new unitary authority first limped out SIX MONTHS AGO.

Yet astonishingly, it has taken until now for the involvement of Inspector Knacker to be dragged out of the Labour-run authority.

The latest twist was uncovered not by the lacklustre Tory opposition on the council, or even local media keeping an eye on the public purse.

Instead, it was independent political party, Putting Cumbria First, which has been tabling the tough questions.

Its representative Colin May used a council meeting to complain that Cumberland has been covering up the embarrassing scandal.

And Mr May quite rightly pointed out: “If it was not for my question, this would not be public knowledge.”

He’s right.

The council confirmed that it was “co-operating” with a police investigation, but then hid behind the old chestnut that it was “not appropriate” to say anymore.

Not politically convenient, more like?

It’s worth recalling how this misuse of public money was also timidly reported back in April by BBC Radio Cumbria.

On the day that the news broke, the county’s crucible of independent, taxpayer-funded journalism, belatedly threw on its cape.

An article was posted at 6pm on the BBC ‘Crumbria’ website, but struck a decidedly unconvinced tone.

The “legitimacy of payments is not in question,” thundered the report.

A good chunk of the tepid article (below) was given over to council waffle and a council spokesman playing down the scandal.

Yet all a reporter needed to do was look online at the hugely incriminating council papers, (which were in the public domain at the time), and they would have realised the story had a lot more heft.

It’s also worrying that it takes an independent political party with no elected councillors on Cumberland Council to be the ones holding the leadership to account.

Our so-called democratic watchdogs in Cumbria have been caught dozing when they should have been barking like mad!

READ HOW WE REPORTED CREDIT CARD MISUSE AT CUMBERLAND COUNCIL: