Building probe deepens as seven more staff suspended

Published on Tuesday 10 May 2011 19:28

THE number of council officials suspended amid fraud investigations into millions of pounds of property repair contracts has nearly doubled to 14.

It is understood the suspension list includes senior management and nearly every surveyor in the workforce, and sources say almost an entire new interim management team has been drafted in to fill the vacuum.

The shortage of staff is believed to have left the building department concentrating on emergency calls and ongoing repairs only. It was previously reported that eight members of staff had been temporarily removed from their posts, as auditors and detectives from Lothian and Borders Police probed alleged irregularities in the city's statutory notice system, which allows the council to carry out essential repairs to private properties and recoup the costs from the owners.

Affected personnel have been put under "precautionary suspension" while investigations continue.

Yesterday the Evening News revealed that problems at the property division may have stretched as far back as 2005.

Councillor Ewan Aitken said: "It's my hope that the suspensions are a sign that the investigation is digging very deep and leaving no stone unturned.

"For us to rebuild confidence among citizens they need to know that nothing has been overlooked in what appears to be a very murky tale."

Edinburgh is the only place in Scotland where the local authority has the statutory notice powers to order repairs to private property and bill owners for the work.

But residents claim costs can snowball out of control, they can find themselves billed for work which was never done and unnecessary work is added to the programme without consultation.

Last summer, we reported a massive 30 million worth of statutory notice work was underway in the city.

Then in November, we revealed several staff in the city council's property conservation department were under investigation over alleged irregularities involving 4.5 million worth of repair contracts and one employee had been suspended.

Five more staff were suspended in March and another two last month.

Part of the investigation centres on why work was completed and signed off on 13 properties by a company using cheaper materials that did not meet city council specifications. The result is that around 300,000 worth of building work will need to be redone, with insiders warning the costs and number of properties involved could be far higher.

Yesterday, a former council employee told the Evening News how he first raised concerns about the property repair department six years ago.

He claimed he would be "sent out to walk the streets" to find properties with "issues" rather than wait on calls from residents with genuine problems and a "league-table" was set up showing how many statutory notices each worker had issued.

He also described how council staff responsible for surveying buildings, estimating repair costs and passing the work to contractors went on nights out with favoured contractors, who would take them to lap dancing clubs, football games and on golfing holidays in return for work.Mark Turley, director of Services for Communities, said today: "The council has commissioned an independent investigation into a wide range of matters relating to the Property Conservation service. It would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage."