KEY POINTS:
Tauranga's top police officer has pledged that detectives will revisit their decision not to investigate a $30,000 fraud complaint.
The move follows detectives saying in June that their workload prevented them investigating the alleged case of embezzlement of a Bay of Plenty charitable trust.
Inspector Mike Clement, Western Bay Area commander, has stepped in to set up a meeting between a senior officer and a trust representative.
The representative - who asked to remain anonymous, as has the trust - had complained that Tauranga police ignored an allegation that a senior trust member had been involved in a "white-collar" fraud.
Mr Clement said that although an investigation has not been officially started, he had instructed CIB to organise a meeting with the trust representative when any supporting material could be discussed.
Mr Clement has also contacted the man personally.
He said there was an "element of truth" in CIB's workload preventing officers from investigating complaints but that it was an issue with police across the country.
The complainant questioned why it took prompting from the Bay of Plenty Times for the allegation to be looked into. Mr Clement said if the man had contacted him directly, irrespective of the newspaper's involvement, then the same outcome of setting up a meeting would have occurred.
- Bay of Plenty Times
