SNP MSP Alex Neil has accused a council of “suppressing” a secret corruption report already revealed in detail in The Herald’s sister paper, the Sunday Herald.
The former cabinet minister was speaking as his party and Labour both plotted to form a minority administration at a first crunch meeting of newly elected councillors today.
Labour had run the council since it was created in 1995 but ousted its own veteran leader Jim McCabe last year before launching a major anti-corruption probe in response to a whistleblower letter sent to The Herald.
The Sunday Herald revealed an unsanctioned overspend of £20m the authority, through massively inflated public contracts. One contractor was paid more than £9m on a contract valued at £1.5m. Contractors deny any wrongdoing and insist work was done for the extra payments.
Mr Neil has now calls for the report to be made public. He said: “This report has clearly been suppressed by the Labour Administration until after the local council elections. It is now incumbent on the new Council Leader and the Chief Executive to ensure the full contents of this report are made public and no longer kept secret. “
However, North Lanarkshire’s chief executive has said he will publish the findings of the report, but only after all possible disciplinary proceedings have been completed.
North Lanarkshire Council suspended three staff and investigated a fourth who had retired. One man has retired after returning to work and another was dismissed. That man reserves the right to appeal to councillors against his dismissal. Insiders suggest this prospect has made it difficult for the council to publish the report
Paul Jukes, chief executive of North Lanarkshire Council, said: “I have repeatedly made clear that the report will be released to all members of the council when the disciplinary process is at an end and not before.
“Any allegation of criminality is a matter for Police Scotland and the council has kept the police informed of its investigations.”
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