The Shire of York’s town hall. York councillors voted for Major Fraud Squad officers to begin an investigation. Source: News Limited
SHIRE of York councillors have voted to call in the Major Fraud Squad to investigate possible corportate credit card misuse.
The vote was held at a special meeting of the council on Tuesday night.
According to the meeting minutes, it took less than 10 minutes to answer public questions and vote that the fraud squad be called-in.Tuesday’s meeting was opened at 5.01pm by outgoing Shire president Matthew Reid and was closed by 5.09pm.
The gathering was called after a notice was sent out on Tuesday by York’s acting chief executive Graeme Simpson.The Shire has refused to answer questions about the nature of the allegations or who has alleged to have committed them.
In a statement, the Department of Local Government said it is “aware of allegations concerning the misuse of corporate credit cards at the Shire of York, due to documentation included in the response to the show cause notice issued last year.“If the Shire forms the view that sufficient grounds exist for referring those allegations, the police are the appropriate agency to receive and if necessary, investigate those claims.
“The department does not comment on police matters.
“The department is providing advice and assistance to staff and councillors at the Shire of York, who are working through a number of issues raised in a probity audit last year.
“The department has also established a Monitoring and Mentoring Panel whose function is to guide and assist the council to provide good governance for the community.
Outgoing Shire of York president Matthew Reid Source: News Corp Australia
In the notice, Mr Simpson said an urgent meeting was required after he had sat down with Major Fraud Squad detectives on Monday afternoon.
The purpose of the meeting was to “consider the actions recommended” by Detective Sergeant Kearns Gangin from the Major Fraud Squad at WA Police.
It is also set to “provide clear direction” to Mr Simpson so he can formally request a fraud investigation into “possible offences”.
Detective Senior Sergeant Steve Potter of the Major Fraud Squad confirmed to PerthNow he met with representatives from the York Shire Council on Monday. “They have been asked to provide documentation and information and then an assessment will take place here to establish if offences have taken place,” he said. “If that is established further decisions will be made by this office in relation to who will investigate.”
According to the notice, a full copy of the Shire of York’s response to a State Government show cause notice last year should be “immediately” provided to the Fraud Squad.
The investigation comes two weeks after the resignation of Shire president Matthew Reid, who departs just two months after councillors were reinstated.
The council had been suspended for six months after Local Government Minister Tony Simpson voiced concerns about the shire’s ability to provide good governance.
PerthNow has contacted the Shire of York but they directed media inquiries to Mr Reid, who is yet to respond to requests for comment.
Mr Reid will finish with the council on October 17. Mr Simpson said he would not comment on the matter at this time.
Congratulations and thank you to Matthew Reid, Councillors Smythe and Wallace for getting the Major Fraud Squad to look into the credit card issue and Show Cause Notice.
ReplyDeleteI believe the Minority Report is about to be released as well.
A/CEO Simpson would like people to believe he came up with the idea to instigate the investigation process which is incorrect. If it had been left up to Simpson nothing would have happened.
I am sorry Matthew and his family have had to put up with so much shit over the last two years.
Anyone who has attempted to expose the truth for the last twelve years has been a target, including our Shire President. It proves to residents the lengths some people will go to to cover things up.
It is now up to the 900 plus people who voted for Matthew to support the candidates who have taken a strong interest in Council proceedings over the years, because they have a good handle on the way an honest Council is supposed to act and if they stand united they will bring York back to the beautiful place it should be in.
Matthew, Dave and Denese opened the door for us, let's keep it open by voting in strong Councillors.
It came out at the meet the candidates evening that several nominees had not bothered to attend council meetings. One had been to none, one candidate had been to only one and the other was struggling to come up with a figure. To me that shows how little they care, or that they have an agenda for themselves.
Candidates who have attended and followed things very closely are: Heather Saint, James Plumridge, Trica Walters and of course Cr. Denese Smythe. Jane Ferro has also attended a fair few.
I'm sure Julian will release the report as soon as it is made available to him.
DeleteI agree with you that Graeme Simpson will be seeking kudos for releasing the report, after all, he has an insurmountable amount of face to save (not that you'd want to save a face like his), for his and Best's treacherous past behaviour.
From the off Matthew was up against it, Pat Hooper, Tony Boyle, Mark Duperouzel, Ray Hooper, Tyhscha Cochrane, Gail Maziuk representing the Shire and themselves, and from the Department, David Morris, Jenni Law, Jennifer Mathews and of course our good friend Brad Jolly.
I think Matthew did extraordinarily well to hang in there as long as he did. To top it all, the Department sent in the clown of all clowns, the self promoting failed 'visionary' James Best, who, had absolutely no intention of assisting any elected members, on the contrary, it's now apparent that Mr Best was only ever interested in rewarding himself both fiscally and politically, sadly he was hugely successful on the first count.
Graeme Simpson won't be getting any kudos and his face is beyond saving - he stuffed up everything he touched since he came here. I hope those who appointed him to the position here in York will realise he needs to retire permanently!
DeleteJulien will get credit for obtaining the Report. I am just sorry he did not nominate for Council.
Intelligent people could see Matthew was up against seriously evil people from the beginning.
Matthew can hold his head high and his Family can be very proud of what he has achieved.
It is now up to the incoming Council to finish what Matthew started.
Stan, re Graeme Simpson, when you say; "I hope those who appointed him to the position here in York will realize he needs to retire permanently', you do realize it was our Council?
DeleteI agree, he needs to retire permanently and never allowed to be a CEO ever again.
My comment was made in the belief Graeme Simpson was appointed by WALGA.
DeleteJust love reading the paper todays Sunday Times front cover and all, when another so called Honest person who supposed to serve their community is serving it up for himself. One by one they are being exposed.
ReplyDeleteDarlene, it cannot come quick enough.
ReplyDeleteMistakenly some people in York are still locked into the 1800's and believe they have a God given right to rule our Town.
One of those people would be Matthew Reid, Sue. His final gesture is to stir up something that has been audited and looked at by so many different authorities it's not funny. Matthew Reid just doesn't like it when he doesn't get his own way. Sometimes he just needs to accept the answer that has been supplied over and over again, leave the past in the past and move on.
DeleteIt's my understanding that Matthew in his capacity as Shire President was denied access to records and other information he was fully entitled to see by virtue of section 5.92 of the Local Government Act. Why was that?
DeleteIt wasn't only Matthew who stirred up the present kerfuffle involving the Major Fraud Squad. It was a member of the general public who went to see the Police Commissioner and persuaded him to act.
Your assertion that many different authorities gave the Shire's financial records a clean bill of health doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Macri's, for example, has admitted that it didn't put much effort into auditing credit card records. I've seen hard evidence of credit card misuse. Some of it was published on this blog months ago. Why are you so keen to conceal it?
We all want to move on, but first we need to put things right so we can start with a clean slate. If public servants do the wrong thing, especially if that wrong thing is also illegal, we can't just let it go. Heads have to roll, I'm afraid. Why should criminals escape justice? 'White collar' crime is still crime. Is there a moral difference, in your view, between defrauding municipal funds and shoplifting?
I hope the police find nothing to work on, but based on what I know I think the chances of that are quite small.
During a conversation sometime ago with a good friend of yours, who has the initials 'RB', this very point was discussed. 'RB' said that the past should be forgotten and all that sort of hokum, of course, this was at the crucial time when he and Mr Best were deep in negotiation regarding the purchase of Chalkies. Strange how some people find it easy to turn a blind eye when there's something in it for them.
DeleteI don't believe for one minute that the CCC have investigated the records which have now been handed over to the Fraud Squad. James Best along with Maziuk, Cochrane and Simpson carried out a superficial 'investigation' into allegations of misconduct. Simpson wouldn't of actually done the work himself, he would have delegated that to his compromised female subordinates
According to Ms Pam Law, a past acquaintance, Maziuk and Cochrane were in regular contact with Ray Hooper, shortly after Hooper resigned, they even asked CEO Keeble if this was acceptable. Therefore, it would be safe to assume that Ray Hooper would have received a running commentary about the state of play. James Best met with Ray Hooper for the purpose of mediation, it was during this mediation Ray Hooper convinced James Best that he had committed no wrongdoing.
Taking into account that Cochrane was DCEO for a considerable period during the time the alleged offences were said to have taken place and Maziuk was in-situ as Shire of York 'Senior Finance Officer', it is inconceivable that Best and Simpson would allow either employee to carry out any investigation when such an obvious conflict exists.
Supporting Ray Hooper and representing the Department of Local Government, the deservedly, much maligned Brad Jolly, was doing everything he could to protect the Department. In fact, it was a Brad Jolly's initiative to employ James Best in his secondary role as York's 'visionary', for which James Best (Best Business Consultants [BBC]) earned nearly $40,000.00, a healthy incentive to predetermine any decision.
Divide this figure by the number of hours James Best committed to his visioning program (when he bothered to turn up), which in Best's favour was conservatively approximately 100, it works out at $400.00 per hour, for what?
$625,000.00 of debt.
Be interesting to get hold of text and phone records of Maziuk and Cochrane. It was leaked soon after Ray resigned these two were constant contact with him. Both have Shire phones.
DeleteIF the Fraud Squad do investigate, Staff phone records may be looked into. Police can obtain phone history even if call and text records have been deleted from the phone itself. Interesting revelations could be discovered.
Anonymous at 16:48: If everything I've learned about the fallout from Ray Hooper's departure is true, your comment is right on the money in every particular.
DeleteI believe Brad Jolly not only initiated the employment of BBC Consulting, he argued with Acting CEO Simpson about it. It appears that Graeme S didn't think it was 'appropriate' to give Best a second bite at the Shire of York cherry. It was Graeme's call as signatory to any purchase order. The argument became quite heated, but true to form Brad bullied Graeme (he shouts at people) and Graeme knuckled under. You have to wonder why Brad was so eager to promote James Best, and how he feels about him now.
By the way, I don't think RB would regard himself as a good friend of mine. He launched a small-minded attack on me for no good reason in a public forum and got a verbal caning for his pains, both in that forum (YDCM) and on my blog.
I bear him and his consort Nota Bene no ill-will - I'm always magnanimous in victory - but sadly I discovered the other day that my generosity of spirit towards them is not reciprocated.
It so happens that a distant relative of mine and her husband visited York recently and treated themselves to the inexpressible luxury of the York Palace Hotel. At some point, my relative got into conversation with NB and made the catastrophic error of asking her if she knew me. I won't go into the details of NB's response; let me just say that I hope and pray I never have to ask her for a character reference.
NB seems to be making a habit of running locals down to customers.
DeleteWhen will she ever learn.
Seems when asked by 'visitors' NB has an opinion on almost every local and most of it is unkind.
DeleteWhat she's failed to realise is, some locals have sent good business her way and it leaves a rather nasty taste in ones mouth when you hear back what she thinks of you.
I don't bother sending anyone now.
Anonymous11 October 2015 at 07:07 - I was referring to the individuals who believe they are still in control of this Town.
ReplyDeleteGiven you appear to know a fair bit about the audits and how many agencies were involved - perhaps even first hand knowledge - can you tell us exactly what the Shire of York Administration provided in the way of evidence/records to these agencies?
IF you believe the Administration have nothing to hide in regard to the Show Cause Notice and the Credit cards, perhaps YOU would like to ask the Senior Staff why they blocked residents from seeing this information. While you are about it, ask them why they are so protective of the financial records for the building costs of the Recreation and Convention Centre - then post it on all on this blog!
The Fraud Squad do not generally refer an investigation to the Major Fraud Squad unless THEY believe there is enough evidence to warrant them to do so.
Anonymous 11 October 2015 7.07 Yesterday I was in town and someone asked me, why is the fraud squad here? What has Matthew Reid done to warrant the fraud squad coming to town?
ReplyDeleteSo we know really what’s going on The Players Department of Local Government (The Mob) and by that I don’t mean everyone in the DLG.
James Best (Jimmy the Rat) and Graeme Simpson (The Hitman or nit wit)
To answer those Questions I will do so in fact.
Fact 1. Mathew has done nothing wrong. The same cannot be said for the Administration and by stating this I don’t mean everyone who works there.
In the following Facts explains why the Fraud Squad is here now.
Fact 2. In December there was an electors meeting and ordinary meeting on the same night 11th of December 2014, which approximately 200 people attended. I say 200 as the council records state 180, as I was there and witnessed many more come in after the attendance was announced and the meeting had started.
Fact 2. At that ordinary meeting the council including Pat Hooper voted on instruction to CEO Graeme Simpson that the show cause notice response and other documentation I believe over 3 files full, be “ immediately forward a copy of the Show Cause Notice and all Annexures to an appropriately empowered investigatory body.” See actual Council motion 041214 at the end.
Fact 3. Graeme Simpson told Council, Ratepayers, I believe not only verbally but in written form on Shire headed Correspondence that he had taken it to all appropriate investigative bodies which included Police and the CCC and they said and I quote “they were not interested”.
Fact 4. Julien Kreig wrote and asked if these things had been presented and if they would be turned down. OOOPS seems the Hitman Graeme had memory loss and left his bullets at home at the breakfast table because it had not been presented and they would defiantly had done something if the council had presented this information.
Fact 5. If this evidence had of been given to an investigative authority as instructed by council to its employee Graeme Simpson, we would all be over this trouble by now and possibly not had Jimmy the Rat.
Fact 5. Mr Kreig presented this information to our Council at a recent meeting.
Fact 6. The Council contacted the Police had a meeting with the relevant people.
Fact 7. The Council has now made a resolution to make sure this gest investigated properly once and for all.
Because as it is and you can all see the nitwit and James the Rat all work for the Mob they are not working for you and me.
They are all raiding the public purse to feather their own nest.
I put my name to this because, Mr James Best, Mr Graeme Simpson and anyone I have contacted at the Department of Local Government who has ignored and coloured the truth is Guilty in their lack of Duty of Care to the residents of York and further more should be made accountable for the actions or lack of.
041214
Moved: Cr Smythe Seconded: Cr Wallace
“That Council:
The Shire of York submission be forwarded to the Minister for Local Government with the request that instead of taking the step of suspending Council consideration be given to –
1. Introducing an ‘on the job’ training programme with an approved Trainer/Mentor being part of the meeting process for Council, Committee and Electors meetings.
2. Training modules also being made available for staff and members of the public who attend Local Government meetings.
3. Request the Minister to appoint an Inquiry Panel under section 8.20 (a) & (b) of the Act, with the powers of a Royal Commission.
4. Authorise the Acting Chief Executive Officer to sign the documents on behalf of the Shire of York.”
CARRIED: 4/0
Moved: Cr Reid Seconded: Cr Smythe
5. The Council authorise the Acting Chief Executive Officer to immediately forward a copy of the Show Cause Notice and all Annexures to an appropriately empowered investigatory body.
CARRIED: 4/0
Hear! hear!
Delete