For some 7 years Jan Britton has "run" Sandwell's bent paid service. He claims - although he has yet to be interviewed under caution by West Midlands Police (WMP) - that he was simply unaware of the fraud and corruption during the Darren Cooper years. This fact alone should have led to his instant dismissal but he must have something on the new Leader, Steve Eling, since he inexplicably remains in post.
We have seen in this blog how, time and again, Cooper and Britton showed total disregard for the law in respect of Freedom of Information. Steve Eling has publicly stated on more than one occasion that this would change. Clearly that message has not got through to the useless (or worse) "Chief Executive".
Regular readers will know that Cllr Mahboob Hussain failed to make proper disclosures concerning his and his wife's shareholdings in Five Star Taxis at a time when that Company was undertaking work for and also bidding for a share of a valuable Sandwell Council taxi contract (which they duly won). Jan Britton told the excellent Halesowen News that he had "investigated" this very serious matter and seemed to suggest that Hussain had simply made an error in completing the "complicated" forms. Britton made no comment following his alleged "investigation" as to the reason why Hussain transferred his shareholding to his daughter but then took it back into his own name after the award of the contract. He told the brilliant Private Eye Magazine that the transfer had been a "wedding present" to his daughter which doesn't explain why she kindly returned the shares to him! An alternative version of events was given to WMP well over two years ago and DS Wayne Haynes told the writer that enquiries would be made with a certain third party. I do not believe they ever were as senior WMP officers blocked the enquiries to protect their chums.
So what exactly did Britton's so-called "investigation" consist of? This guy is on nearly £160k a year so one would expect a degree of thoroughness.....
Five Star appear to have started doing taxi work for SMBC in September, 2012 - they certainly started receiving regular payments of taxpayers' money on 1st October, 2012. They then bid for a slice of the "framework" contract which was put out to "e-auction" on 5th October, 2013 with the contract starting on 24th February, 2014.
It is a given that throughout this entire period Hussain failed to declare the shareholding of his wife in Five Star.
What of Hussain's own shareholding? We know that on 23rd April, 2011 he held 10% of the shares and his son, Adnan, held a further 20% shareholding. On 23rd April, 2012 the Company recorded the same information with Companies House.
For reasons that are not clear the Company filed a second annual return in 2012 - on 9th October, 2012. This purported to show that Hussain transferred his 10% shareholding to his daughter, Shasta, on 31st August, 2012 but claims that Adnan had transferred his shareholding to her on 1st September, 2011. Now that cannot be right. I suspect this is a mistake and they meant to say 1st September, 2012. If it was not then the Company made a false declaration in the annual return of 23rd April, 2012 ie that Adnan held 20% of the shares at that point.
The fact is that Five Star had already filed its annual return for that year and there was absolutely no need to file another. It seems crystal clear that someone wanted an "official record" in September, 2013 showing that Shasta had a 30% shareholding in the Company. WMP know the allegation of why this was probably done but have suppressed any investigation. If that allegation is incorrect (and it involves an allegation of criminality) then the only conclusion left is that Hussain deliberately divested himself of his shareholding at precisely the time Five Star were bidding for a valuable contract from his own Council.
Incidentally, the allegation which WMP have refused to investigate came from a member of the Muslim community.
After Five Star won a share of the taxi contract Hussain filed a new Declaration of Interests signed by him on 6th February, 2014. As above, he still made no mention of his wife's shareholding. neither did he mention his own - just that he was engaged by Five Star in unspecified "employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain" and that Five Star had "employed or appointed him".
Unfortunately we don't know the date Shasta was forced to hand back the shares to him and this is important and should have been part of Jan Britton's alleged "investigation". We do know from Companies House that this was sometime between 9th October, 2013 and 22nd July, 2014 since on the latter date the shares were back with Hussain. (If the other allegation is correct WMP should confine their investigations as to what might have been happening in the Hussain family during that period.)
Britton is claiming that following his alleged "investigation" he had concluded that the failure to make a proper declaration had been an "oversight" by Hussain (Wragge Report para 4.4.13). But what did he overlook Jan? Was the oversight that he had failed to declare that his daughter held a large shareholding in a company already working for SMBC and bidding for a valuable contract or, if he had already taken the shareholding back into his own name, that he had failed to declare his own interest? What was his status with Five Star - he was not a director and possibly not a shareholder at the material time? Was he driving taxis or "doing the books". Was he on PAYE then as an employee? Britton surely took detailed notes of his findings?
(In passing we should note that bent WMP let the time period to launch a possible prosecution of Hussain pass claiming this was accidental because they were "unaware of the law"!)
Obviously I had assumed that Mr Greenburgh would do a thorough job investigating this and other matters when compiling the rubbishy "Wragge Report". In the absence of proper detail therein I put in a Freedom of Information request and Britton has caused and/or permitted this p*ss-taking response to be sent to me:
"The Chief Executive of the Council, Jan Britton, informed The Halesowen
News that he had investigated the non-disclosure by Cllr Mahmood Hussain
of his and his wife's interests in Five Star Taxis at a time when Five
Star were tendering for part of a valuable taxi contract (which they were
subsequently awarded a part of).
The implication from the press reports is that Jan Britton had ascertained
that Cllr Hussain DID have an interest in Five Star Taxis.
1 Please state the exact date the contract was put out to tender and the
exact date it was awarded;
The contract was tendered via e-auction on 5th October 2013 and Five Star
were awarded an element of this contract on 24th October 2013 with a start
date of 24th Feb 2014. The contract contained multiple elements and Five
Star Taxis did not win them all.
2 Please state precisely the nature of the investigation conducted by Mr
Britton and disclose all correspondence (including emails), notes,
memoranda and all documents of whatsoever nature relating to the said
investigation to also include any investigation into Cllr Hussain's wife's
interest in Five Star Taxis.
The council has no disclosable information on this question.
However, it became apparent that Cllr Hussain had declared his interest,
from approximately 2011, in Five Star Taxis. He had not however, declared
his interest in a contract between the Council and Five Star until
23/9/14.
3 If it be the case as reported in local media that Jan Britton found
that Cllr Hussain did have an interest in Five Star Taxis please state his
findings of fact ie from which date Mr Britton concluded that Cllr Hussain
first had a disclosable interest in Five Star Taxis and whether that
interest was continuous. If it was not continuous please confirm between
which dates Mr Britton concluded that Cllr Hussain had divested himself of
his interest in Five Star Taxis.
See Q2
4 Please state Mr Britton's findings of fact in respect of the
shareholding of Cllr Hussain's wife ie which date did Mr Britton conclude
that Cllr Hussain should have made a declaration in his register of
interests entry confirming that his wife held an interest in Five Star
Taxis.
The council has no disclosable information on this question.
5 Please disclose all correspondence, communications and documentation
of whatsoever nature passing between SMBC and West Midlands Police
relating to Cllr Hussain and his wife's interests in Five Star Taxis and
in respect of the award of a valuable contract to Five Star Taxis.
The council has no disclosable information on this question.
6 Please state who made the decision not to include Cllr Hussain's
failure to declare his and his wife's disclosable interest in Five Star
whilst actively tendering for part of a valuable contract in the terms of
reference submitted to Messrs Wragge and Co as part of Project Osprey
and/or the commissioning of the investigation by Messrs Wragge. Please
disclose all communications and documentation of whatsoever nature arising
in respect of the decision not to include these matters in the terms of
reference for investigation.
The council has no disclosable information on this question.
7 Did Cllr Hussain proffer any other information concerning his
shareholding in Five Star to Mr Britton or others in authority at SMBC?
The council has no disclosable information on this question."
This is appalling conduct and, in my view, merits disciplinary action in its own right. This is as bad, Cllr Eling, as some of the nonsense replies received during the reign of the late Smethwick Scumbag. Needless to say, I have applied for an internal review and I hope Cllr Eling will ensure a proper response since I am sure the Information Commissioner will take a dim view of this shocking abuse of the law.
It is now time for Steve Eling to ensure that a number "17" is added to this board in the Oldbury Council chamber - and soon......
THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!
Confidential phone no: 07514 046661 Facebook: Julian Saunders
Email: thesandwellskidder@gmail.com
PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER DECEASED!
