Camden Council recently issued this press release:
Camden Council has exposed a £60,000 conspiracy involving money aimed at improving the London Cycle Network. The council’s Internal Audit Investigation Team and managers from the Culture and Environment Department together uncovered financial irregularities in 2005 involving the distribution of this money. Following an internal investigation the council alerted the police, which resulted in the arrest and subsequent prosecution of three men.
On Monday 21 August 2006, after a week long trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court, Arthur Finlay (54), a Chartered Accountant, was found guilty of conspiracy to defraud through the invoicing for non-existent work. Camden Council staff also gave vital evidence that helped ensure Mr Finlay’s conviction.
Two other men had already pleaded guilty to the conspiracy. Festus Agwu Jones (53) a former Camden Council employee working in the Culture & Environment Department [actually Camden's Cycling Officer] pleaded guilty when charged on 17 March 2006. Edgar Georgestone of Edgestone Trading Corporation Ltd pleaded guilty at the start of the trial.
So Festus, was that a 2 miles cycle lane you submitted bills for, or rather 2 metres?
Image by the Warrington Cycling Campaign
[...] This is a great cycle lane from the UK. Courtesy of velorution: [...]
Tsk tsk, if the Camden Council didn't expose the £60,000 conspiracy involving money aimed at improving the London Cycle Network, then it could have been lost. The perpetrators could have gone easily without the vigilance of the Council, props to them for a job well done.