If there is fraud on Council - go to the police, councillor told

A local councillor has been told if he has evidence of fraudulent land deals, he needs to present it to the PSNI.

Cllr Darryl Wilson made the comments at a meeting of Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council's Corporate Policy and Resources Committee last week.

The Committee were considering a notice of motion brought by Glens councillor Pádraig McShane to pause action on long-term leases or sales of property assets until the conclusion of an ongoing audit.

“The proposal is based on the knowledge and understanding of what took place in the organisation in relation to the sale of assets, land and the disposal of same,” said Cllr McShane.

“I've used the word 'fraud' several times in the past and I've evidenced what I believe was fraud to this organisation at two previous Audit Committees as far back as 2019 and to the Department and the Audit Office.

Glens councillor Pádraig McShane.

“The evidence I produced to the Department left them with no alternative but to conduct an Extraordinary Audit.

“To put that in perspective, no local government has been subject to an Extraordinary Audit in the past 20 years.

“The Audit Office themselves were unaware of the powers they had due to no one in that office actually having been involved in an Extraordinary Audit of local government.

“It would be prudent to suspend all sales and disposals, and long-term leases until that has reported and the corporate body can get its head around what this Extraordinary Audit is going to reveal.”

After Cllr Wilson asked if he had brought his evidence to the PSNI, Cllr McShane said he had wanted to deal with it internally first in order to 'protect this organisation'.

“The PSNI thing has been thrown up several times as a stick to beat me with, but actually it's not,” he said.

“It's due diligence and it's how you process these things. There is an avenue to go there, and it's not ready yet. If it comes to that point, yes, we will go there.”

Cllr Darryl Wilson urged Cllr McShane to take his concerns to the police.

Cllr McShane said evidence presented to the Department left them with 'no alternative' but to conduct the Extraordinary Audit, but Cllr Michelle Knight-McQuillan rejected suggestions the Council had been misled.

“I don't believe I was misled in any decisions I have made in this chamber,” she told the Committee.

“Everyone on that [Land and Property] sub committee takes their role very seriously and there is always well-thought out questions and debate.

“If we don't feel we have enough information, we don't make a decision; we ask for more information, planning advice, legal opinions.

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“If I don't feel I have enough information, I ask for it and when I have enough, I make my decision,” she added.

Cllr Wilson said that fraud was a crime, and the only avenue for dealing with crime was the PSNI.

“If somebody does defer from policy or procedure, then you should look within first for a solution. However, that's only if criminality is not involved, and fraud is criminality,” he said.

“If someone within this organisation carried out a criminal act, you don't go through policy and procedure within council to get an outcome and then bring law enforcement in.

Cllr Michelle Knight-McQuillan said she did not feel she had been misled.

“You ring the police straight away. If fraud is suspected, the only people who can deal with that is the PSNI. That is a fact. You don't trawl it through this organisation.

“Fraud is a crime and that crime must be reported to the PSNI. You cannot withhold evidence of a criminal act.”

Summing up, Cllr McShane accused councillors of voting to 'bury' the Happy Raspberry report that upheld 15 complaints against Council CEO David Jackson.

“The allegations were never vague if you'd read the reports. Nobody went to the court case, nobody went anywhere,” he said.

“Some people went in and read for half an hour. Thousands of pages, in half an hour, 45 minutes, they read it all and sorted it all out.

The Glens councillor also said he hoped Sinn Féin could stand over their 'lobbying' to get a deal for the Dunluce Centre over the line.

“Sinn Féin were keen to get the land deal done at Dunluce, they lobbied hard for this, worked hard, turned up every night and got that over the line with the help of their party faithful in the DUP,” he said.

“The only thing they wanted to do was get that deal across the line at Dunluce and congratulations to them for doing it.

“I hope they can square that circle when it comes to the future and this report being read.”

A vote was then taken on Cllr McShane's notice of motion, which was defeated by 12 votes to 1, with only Alliance's Chris McCaw voting in favour.

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