Cllr David Wimble Committed Fraud

Updated: 20:30am 23/07/20

Cllr David Wimble (Ind) (pictured), Cabinet Member for the District Economy for Folkestone & Hythe District Council committed fraud by making false representations on his mileage claims to and from the council between May & July 2019.

Last year on July 18th we asked the question: Is Cllr David Wimble Committing Fraud?

Now we can say he definitely was driving his blue Mercedes car with no tax, no mot and no valid insurance between April & July 2019, to and from Council meetings. He even drove to the election count with no valid MOT or Tax. Yet between June & July 2019 Cllr Wimble made mileage claims to the value of £488.50, which were refused by the Council. However, they only refused after the Shepwayvox Team brought it to their attention.

A formal complaint was lodged with monitoring officer (the Council’s legal officer) – Amandeep Khroud, who received a £10,500 pay rise in 2019/20  – by several people, and yet NO action was taken.  The monitoring officer’s response to the complaint was as follows:

• “The complaint is relatively minor and dealing with the complaint would have a disproportionate effect on both public money and officers’ and Members’ time”.

However, the Council state in their Annual Governance Statement 2019/20

• The Council is firmly opposed to any form of fraud and corruption and will take prompt and decisive action to deal equally with perpetrators from inside and outside the Council.

It’s clear then the Council has failed to take prompt and decisive action, against Cllr Wimble. We ask the Cabinet Member for Revenues & Benefits service, Anti fraud and corruption, Cllr Tim Prater (Lib Dem), what action, if any, he might instigate against his fellow Cabinet Member Cllr David Wimble (Ind). And we ask why the Council have NOT passed any evidence to the Police.

Without anymore ado, you can read Cllr Wimble’s mileage claims which easily surpass the threshold of – beyond all reasonable doubt.

Cllr David Wimble’s mileage claims

Under s2 of the Fraud Act 2006, it’s clear Cllr Wimble made fraudulent representation when claiming for mileage, as he knew his car was NOT taxed, MOT’d or insured to be on the road.

We ask Dr Susan Priest, the Chief Executive of Folkestone & Hythe District, why she took no action against Cllr Wimble? We ask why she, or he legal officer didn’t report the fraud?

Whilst there is no legal requirement to report a crime, there is a moral duty on Dr Priest and Amandeep Khroud to report to the police any crime or anything they suspect may be a crime, especially as this is public money.

So it’s safe to say we have a known fraudster sitting on our Council in charge of the district economy. Ironic when the council tell you to beware of scammers. It’s scary.

When former Cllr Peter Simmons claimed mileage for just over £200, he was run out of the local Conservative party and stepped down. It’s clear to us if the Chief Exec of the Council is allowing fraud at Cllr level, it begs the question where else it might be going on? But as ever, we’ll let you ponder that.

The Shepwayvox Team

Dissent is NOT a Crime