A whistleblower’s allegation of corruption and cronyism inside Folkestone & Hythe District Council are so serious they claim only a “wholesale root and branch disposal of certain staff will stave off government inspectors being called in.”
The whistleblower claims “there are serious concerns including allegations of serious and sustained fraud within the council… all to frequent breaches of contract procedure and procurement rules and poor oversight by those charged with monitoring payments.“
They go onto claim:
“The truth is all too often suppressed and shrouded in a veil of secrecy from councillors. Officers are ‘pressurized’ not to put correct data in reports which go before all committees… there is much staff bullying especially by seniors on juniors and the council lacks a fundamental grasp of governance… it operates in chaos. It’s clear that without wholesale change and a root and branch review of every tier of management within the council such behavior will continue unabated.”
What makes it worse the whistleblower claims is “hardly anybody is in the office, so there is little oversight of what individual officers are getting up to. This has created a breeding ground for wrongdoing on a large scale.“
The lack of governance does not surprise us, nor does the lack of questions coming from the Audit & Governance Committee. That might be because “Officers are pressurized not to put correct data in reports which go before all committees.”
Update: This whistleblower has not been suspended due to any ongoing investigation, and as such has no axe to grind.
Hardly surprising news given the councillors preponderance for cosying up to criminals like Michael Stainer. Wasn’t it he who fraudulently claimed furlough cash and grants from the Council and at the same time was pressurising staff to come in against the furlough or in their own time to do jobs for him………councillors and the local MP who was just as friendly with the convicted fraudster should be hanging their heads in shame – it’s not as if it came as a surprise to anyone that he was on the fiddle all along – it’s been common knowledge for years
Whistleblower beware!!!
Those that are the focus of these investigations are not the ones to be feared the most, it’s the ones that are hell bent on covering up the wholesale failure of senior management to ensure the inbuilt checks and balances within the system are in place and working properly, obviously not been the case within this particular local authority?
How the hell can a charge of neglect of duty in a public office not be justified ?
Finally I tip my hat to the whistleblower, you walk a lonely path and my best advice is TRUST NO-ONE not even those charged with protecting you, most of all the monitoring officer and the chief exec, for it is they that ultimately have most to lose, you have been warned !!!!
I would echo and endorse Rosie’s observations. I would urge you to seek external help and advice if you have not already done so (link below). I would not trust the Council to investigate your concerns as too many individuals will have too much to lose if their nefarious activities are properly investigated.
You are very brave but, don’t expect your colleagues to thank you. Don’t use your work email or telephone in this matter in case it is being covertly monitored. If necessary, you may need to find another job especially if senior staff decide to mount a witch hunt to identify who draw attention to their misconduct.
It starts at the top of politics and simply filters it’s way down through layers of authority. The majority of the public are too self absorbed to do anything about it.
Folkestone & Hythe’s CEO and three other Officers were threatened with a Private Criminal Prosecution in respect of serious and sustained frauds in their Planning Department which have likely been operating since 2013, and which were brought to Dr. Susan Priest’s attention in July 2021; these frauds have not been stopped. They were given 14 days to exculpate themselves or face criminal prosecution. No reply was received from any of them
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Hardly surprising news given the councillors preponderance for cosying up to criminals like Michael Stainer. Wasn’t it he who fraudulently claimed furlough cash and grants from the Council and at the same time was pressurising staff to come in against the furlough or in their own time to do jobs for him………councillors and the local MP who was just as friendly with the convicted fraudster should be hanging their heads in shame – it’s not as if it came as a surprise to anyone that he was on the fiddle all along – it’s been common knowledge for years
Whistleblower beware!!!
Those that are the focus of these investigations are not the ones to be feared the most, it’s the ones that are hell bent on covering up the wholesale failure of senior management to ensure the inbuilt checks and balances within the system are in place and working properly, obviously not been the case within this particular local authority?
How the hell can a charge of neglect of duty in a public office not be justified ?
Finally I tip my hat to the whistleblower, you walk a lonely path and my best advice is TRUST NO-ONE not even those charged with protecting you, most of all the monitoring officer and the chief exec, for it is they that ultimately have most to lose, you have been warned !!!!
I would echo and endorse Rosie’s observations. I would urge you to seek external help and advice if you have not already done so (link below). I would not trust the Council to investigate your concerns as too many individuals will have too much to lose if their nefarious activities are properly investigated.
You are very brave but, don’t expect your colleagues to thank you. Don’t use your work email or telephone in this matter in case it is being covertly monitored. If necessary, you may need to find another job especially if senior staff decide to mount a witch hunt to identify who draw attention to their misconduct.
https://protect-advice.org.uk/
This could be the tipping point for this particular local authority and if it is Shepway Vox will have performed a very valuable public service.
Exactly what the public has suspected for years. Thank you to the whistleblower.
The way the council is handing itself planning permission (for projects that few actually want) is scandalous.
It starts at the top of politics and simply filters it’s way down through layers of authority. The majority of the public are too self absorbed to do anything about it.
Folkestone & Hythe’s CEO and three other Officers were threatened with a Private Criminal Prosecution in respect of serious and sustained frauds in their Planning Department which have likely been operating since 2013, and which were brought to Dr. Susan Priest’s attention in July 2021; these frauds have not been stopped. They were given 14 days to exculpate themselves or face criminal prosecution. No reply was received from any of them
And what has come of this Private Criminal Prosecution?
Anything or Nothing
All well and good to ‘threaten’, talk is cheap as they say.