Exclusive: The Shepway Vox Team can announce that four council officers at Folkestone & Hythe District Council have been suspended due to contract and financial irregularities.
Only pending any final investigation will the council then decide what action to take against any of the individuals. While under investigation, they are deemed innocent of any misdemeanor.
We have already named Anthony Wallner (pictured below left) & Alastair Clifford (pictured below right), as for the other two names we do not know them yet, but we will.
We know both of these unnamed persons worked under Anthony Wallner and one was responsible for the Kitchen & Bathroom contract.
We know more investigations will be opening up and more names will more likely than not be under the spotlight and we strongly suspect more people will be suspended pending investigation.
We first began raising serious financial and contractual irregularities in May 2022. Charlotte Spendley the s151 officer, who has statutory responsiblity for all council money, officially announced two investigations at the Audit & Governance Committee on 08.06.22.
We will of course keep you updated. We have not approached the council for comment as when our public face did regarding Alastair Clifford, their response was:
“The Council does not comment on queries relating to individual officers.”
Congratulations on all your hard work. This is a corrupt and incompetent local authority. As with East Kent Housing individuals will ultimately be held to account. The real question is why are our local councillors so incapable of monitoring what is going on?
Curiouser and curiouser as the saying goes.
When a local authority takes career ending action against officers as senior as this you can be sure there is not only a cover up in full swing but also a full blown military operation to protect their political masters, whilst the uncovering of these matters to date is down to pure hard work and dedication from the vox and deserves the highest commendation I have a feeling this is not as smelly as it gets, I think that there is a group of people connected to these matters that must come under detailed scrutiny, it’s the “suspenders” those that have the power to sack heads of dept and ultimately have the most to lose especially when these investigations start to threaten their little empires.
Then of course there is the “outside entities” that wield the real power of the purely financial enticement variety, history has shown that where Mears have managed to have directors, managers and operatives embedded into a local authority and in total control of the invoice and payment system fraud is rampant, you only have to look at what happened to the bathroom and kitchen contracts at Medway under Deborah Upton ( see Anthony Wallners employment history)
This really needs to be put out to all the media outlets you can contact.
Let the general public know what’s happening then maybe those with overall control of the council notably Monk will have to resign.
Stop the backhanders and dodgy land acquisitions with council tax payers money and get Councillors in that care about the local community they are supposed to serve.
This council is corrupt without doubt. You only have to look at Otterpool and the racecourse development. Monk and his band of bent councillors, should go and go now. The people of Shepway will soon realise the corrupt way these developments have been pushed through. The off shore bank accounts, the brown envelopes exchanging hands, the fragrant bypassing of the building rules, and the destruction of the area and its amenities. The problem is that Monk and his cronies rely on the West end blue rinse brigade to keep them in power.
Many many people have suspected Cllr. Monk and his cronies for a long time of secrecy, double dealing, and more serious concerns. So much is owed to the Shepway Vox Team for their wonderful endeavors
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Congratulations on all your hard work. This is a corrupt and incompetent local authority. As with East Kent Housing individuals will ultimately be held to account. The real question is why are our local councillors so incapable of monitoring what is going on?
Curiouser and curiouser as the saying goes.
When a local authority takes career ending action against officers as senior as this you can be sure there is not only a cover up in full swing but also a full blown military operation to protect their political masters, whilst the uncovering of these matters to date is down to pure hard work and dedication from the vox and deserves the highest commendation I have a feeling this is not as smelly as it gets, I think that there is a group of people connected to these matters that must come under detailed scrutiny, it’s the “suspenders” those that have the power to sack heads of dept and ultimately have the most to lose especially when these investigations start to threaten their little empires.
Then of course there is the “outside entities” that wield the real power of the purely financial enticement variety, history has shown that where Mears have managed to have directors, managers and operatives embedded into a local authority and in total control of the invoice and payment system fraud is rampant, you only have to look at what happened to the bathroom and kitchen contracts at Medway under Deborah Upton ( see Anthony Wallners employment history)
This really needs to be put out to all the media outlets you can contact.
Let the general public know what’s happening then maybe those with overall control of the council notably Monk will have to resign.
Stop the backhanders and dodgy land acquisitions with council tax payers money and get Councillors in that care about the local community they are supposed to serve.
Tip of the iceberg
This council is corrupt without doubt. You only have to look at Otterpool and the racecourse development. Monk and his band of bent councillors, should go and go now. The people of Shepway will soon realise the corrupt way these developments have been pushed through. The off shore bank accounts, the brown envelopes exchanging hands, the fragrant bypassing of the building rules, and the destruction of the area and its amenities. The problem is that Monk and his cronies rely on the West end blue rinse brigade to keep them in power.
Many many people have suspected Cllr. Monk and his cronies for a long time of secrecy, double dealing, and more serious concerns. So much is owed to the Shepway Vox Team for their wonderful endeavors