'Counter fraud report's mystery councillor is me'

OUNCILLOR Joe Harris has revealed that he is the mystery councillor who is mentioned in a counter fraud report at Cotswold District Council.

- CARMELO GARCIA Local Democracy Reporter

The report does not find fault with the Liberal Democrat councillor, and while he does not believe he has done anything wrong, he has gone public for “complete transparency” and is referring himself to the monitoring officer.

‘The move comes after the Conservative Party opposition at Cotswold District Council said they found themselves in a “Catch-22” situation.

‘They wanted to lodge a formal code of conduct complaint against the councillor mentioned in the report presented to the audit and governance committee on September 30. However, this was blocked as such complaints need to be made against a named member.

Councillor Harris (St Michael’s) said: “Given the recent interest in the audit and governance committee report on procurement exercises and the speculation that has followed, I want to be clear that the councillor referenced in a section of that report was me. I was the cabinet member for communications at the time the relevant procurement exercises were carried out.