SFO probe 'has left victims'

Former Far North Mayor Wayne Brown is calling on his successor, John Carter, to apologise over his calling of a Serious Fraud Office inquiry into Far North District Council activities over the four years to 2013.

Mr Brown said a lot of people had been under a cloud of suspicion for 18 months before the SFO declared last week that no action would be taken.

"This has had a number of victims, and a lot of people are owed an apology," he said.

The SFO announced last week that it had completed its investigation, and would not be laying charges, director Julie Read saying there was insufficient evidence to commence a criminal prosecution for serious or complex fraud against any person. (SFO - Insufficient evidence to prosecute, June 30).

"The investigation found evidence that both council members and employees apparently failed to comply with internal systems and controls designed to ensure that proper processes were followed in the approval of council projects and the expenditure of public money," she said, "but these are failures of governance and procedure, and no evidence of the intention required to commit a criminal offence was found."

Mr Brown said that equated to the headline 'Serious burglary, nothing missing.'

"That's what it is," he said.

"I'm brave enough to speak out, but a lot of people aren't. And a lot of people have been hurt."

Former chief executive David Edmunds had been "pushed out" over something that didn't exist. He had no idea of what had become of Mr Edmunds, but the chief financial officer had left and had been unable to find a new position.

"This has upset a lot if people who can't find new jobs," he added.

"Nobody has approached me over the last 18 months. No one wants anything to do with anyone who is even vaguely implicated in fraud.

"John Carter is a hell of a good politician and a really good bloke, but he doesn't understand numbers. I"m not as good a politician as he is but no one has ever questioned my financial acumen."

And he was not prepared to take Mr Carter's word that the SFO inquiry had been good value for money, until he knew what it had been asked to do and how much it had cost.

"Tell us that and we will decide if it was good value," he said. "If [Mr Carter] carries on with this bullshit about good value for money he won't get rid of me."