Thursday 8 October 2015

WMP Admit They Did "Nothing" on SMBC Complaints!

A rumour has been confirmed as true as West Midlands Police (WMP) admit Sandwell's finest did sod all in respect of complaints about Labour Councillors making false legal declarations in the Register of Interests (a criminal offence). Absolutely NOTHING!

These complaints were put in some time ago and, in some cases, have been somewhat superseded by events but there are still very major concerns and further police action IS required.

NOT THEIR FINEST HOUR!
The Skidder attended West Bromwich Police Station (on more than one occasion) and provided Sandwell Police with full information suggesting prima facie cases of unlawful conduct by Labour's Meehan, Frear, Rouf, Hussain and, now ex-Councillor, Cashmore. Nothing whatsoever was done (despite TWO letters to the Chief Constable, Chris Sims) but a third and final complaint to Mr Sims threatening a complaint to to the IPCC eventually led to a referral to the WMP Professional Standards Department. Cashmore falls into a different category (see below) but WMP now state:

"the investigating officer is satisfied that these allegations have not been subject of ANY investigation by West Midlands Police".

Accordingly, my complaints (excluding Cashmore) have been upheld though WMP also say that the lack of investigation was NOT as a result of misconduct by any officer!

Ever since The Skidder became involved in Sandwell matters there have been numerous people making the allegation that a senior Labour Councillor acts as an informant to Sandwell Police. Whether this is true or not, you might find it surprising that absolutely no action WHATSOEVER was taken on any of my complaints (including Cashmore).

It must be remembered in respect of Hussain (as set out below) that contracts were awarded to his taxi firm whilst his Register of Interests was false and the firm has subsequently received over ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS OF TAXPAYERS' MONEY! Apparently, this isn't worth Sandwell Police "getting out of bed for", or, perhaps, leaving the golf course for, judging by the twitter feed from a very senior Sandwell police officer since my complaints were first made (note especially the tweet of 2nd April, 2015 with his "colleague" from, er, Sandwell Council):

28/08/14
Beautiful day with golf team police at vale resort, Cardiff.

Oh dear the day job impinging on the golf - 19/10/14
No golf today.... No diy Sunday either... for xxxxxxxx so heading into office!

27/02/15
Thanks to colleagues for allowing me back to join their golf day today!

07/03/15
Thanks for organising great two days golf trip

02/04/15
Great day off today with colleague golf, spa, lunch and... Relax...

(I wasn't aware WMP had "colleagues" at Sandwell Council. Wonder who it was enjoying the golf and spa experience at a time when SMBC were under active Regional Fraud Team investigation? Was it a Councillor or an employee? This was a Thursday and so, if the latter, had the person taken a day off or were they there at taxpayer expense?)

20/06/15
So spending morning remote working on office stuff... Emails, reports, etc... But have golf later (this apparently just after 10 days on holiday 7th to 17th June);

22/07/15
V excited about catching up with colleagues today

10/07/15
Nice to spend two days this week with friends on the most excellent golf courses

(Believe me, there are lots more.....)

Let's get back to the nitty-gritty. I think we can deal swiftly with Meehan. This "Friend of Fudgestock" lied about ownership of his own house. For reasons that are opaque, this was referred to the Standards Committee for a whitewash even though no formal complaint had been made to SMBC (and even though a Senior SMBC solicitor has put in writing that SMBC have NOT been monitoring my social media). Meehan allegedly claimed that the false declaration was a "mistake" and as he was selected simply as voting fodder for the Politburo, I think we now have to just assume that Meehan was just too thick to remember he owns his own house and leave the residents of Wednesbury North to his tender care!

I have repeatedly pointed out in this blog that a simple way for Councillors to throw people off the scent that they are living in Council houses is to claim they own them. This is precisely what Rouf and Frear did in their Register of Interests entries. They were only found out because of tip-offs and The Skidder then undertaking Land Registry searches.

Rouf is a special case. There is also the question of how he was given a Council house when he had just sold a property and had interests in a property in Shireland Road and this blog has also revealed very serious concerns about the sale of the huge plot at Florence Road, Smethwick to Rouf's son. WMP have been all over my blog recently following complaints from Cooper and Britton, and other matters, but seem to be wilfully ignoring the very worrying disclosures contained herein. See my latest blog on this land deal which must surely start alarm bells ringing:

http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/rouf-house-smbc-sale-price.html

If I understand things correctly, this land sale and associated issues are (incredibly!) NOT part of the Regional Fraud Team investigation and so this matter is being specifically referred back to WMP for investigation given the latest evidence that has come to light.

On 7th September, 2015 I wrote to SMBC's Monitoring Officer stating that Rouf was still lying in the Register. He has now completed yet another Register of Interests form dated 7th October, 2015. Although the SMBC website still has him living in the Council house at 33 Trafalgar Road he know confirms that he is indeed that peculiar breed known only in Sandwell - the non-paying tenant - now living with his wife at the Florence Road mansion! He also confirms that his wife now owns the Shireland Road property - as revealed by The Skidder! Just how much evidence does WMP need FFS!!!!!


Frear also claimed to own his house whereas it is owned by SMBC and he was their tenant. He gets very large expenses from the public purse as Labour Chair of Planning ("lol") and his brother/half-brother was a co-tenant earning a good wage from, er, Labour Sandwell Council! How this pair were given a Council property ahead of poor and needy people has yet to be explained by the "socialist" comrades. I wonder if he will be able to find the money to eventually buy it eh readers? (The multiply-named Mr Frear corrected his entry in August, 2015 but makes no mention of his brother/half-brother being a co-tenant).


If WMP's lack of activity regarding Rouf is "odd" then there must be some underlying cause why they are not investigating the taxi contracts to Hussain's firm. The Police have known all about this for some time (and it has been covered in the local media) but, again if I understand it correctly, this is - unbelievably - NOT being investigated by the Regional Fraud Team (how can this be?) Again this is now being formally referred back to WMP although given their Nelsonian approach to this to date you have to wonder if someone, somewhere, is deliberately blocking a proper investigation.


The taxi contracts have been referred to in detail in this blog but let me just remind you (and WMP) of a couple of points:


1. Hussain and his wife owned 50% of Five Star Taxis;

2. Hussain never declared his wife's interest in the Register of Interests. The press say this was at a time when Five Star were actively bidding for a share of a large Sandwell Council contract. I believe that there may, in fact, have been two contract tendering processes where no declaration was made (my investigations into all this were curtailed as I was under the impression the Police WERE looking into all this). Hussain claimed in the press that he had simply "forgotten" to record his wife's interest. As above, Five Star have received over £100,000 of our money under one of the contracts - but, regrettably for us, Hussain has not "forgotten" to bank the cheques;
3. At a material time, Hussain transferred HIS shareholding to his daughter but after the contract was awarded he "remembered" to take the shares back into his own name. Why? (An informant gave an explanation for this a long time ago and the Police have been well aware of it for many months but have - seemingly - done sod all about it!);
4. Of course I have no means of checking the veracity of this, but an anonymous caller claiming to be an employee of SMBC, informed me that there were "irregularities" with the award of the taxi contract. The Police were again made aware of this but - so it would seem - have deliberately chosen not to use their considerable investigative powers (and the fact that the RFT are in situ) to even take a tiny peek.... Why? Who has ordered that there be no investigation here?

And so we turn, finally, to the Liar Cashmore (see posts passim). I made two complaints about Cashmore - (a) that at all material times she was not living with her Councillor parents in Smethwick but with her husband and children in South Birmingham and (b) for reasons that were unclear, she had claimed not to be working when she was.


Even the Professional Standards Department of West Midlands Police have completely ignored the second leg of my complaint and I am asking them to look at that again since otherwise I will have to trouble the IPCC with it.


This is important since as I disclosed in my post of 4th May, 2015 whilst Cashmore was failing to disclose her employment with First Personnel they received some £125,000 from Labour SMBC. Maybe this was pure coincidence but someone needs to take a look!!!!!


Now for the extraordinary bit! WMP Professional Standards have missed my complaint about the failure to disclose her employment but have NOT upheld my complaint about their handling of Cashmore's residence on the strict ground that it has already been investigated in 2012. (Don't forget that Cashers got four years of allowances - thousands of pounds -  from the taxpayer before she decided not to stand again).


I am not going to go over the whole saga again but I have pointed out to the Police, inter alia,


1. That there are specific people they can speak to in South Birmingham to confirm that Cashmore was living in South Birmingham at all material times;

2. There were numerous small discrepancies eg she had a different email provider address from her parents which is odd if she was living in the same house;
3. The police could interview her and ask her to provide bills, bank statements etc bearing her address. What address do her respective employers hold?
4. There is the question whether there have been false declarations on the electoral registers of Sandwell and Birmingham Councils;
5. Cashers filled in a legal declaration to Companies House with her, real, Birmingham address;
6. The Liar removed photos from her Facebook account showing her South Birmingham house and garden.

Regular readers will remember the curious story I referred to many moons ago that the Police had allegedly made a pre-arranged appointment to see Cashmore at Hall Road, Smethwick and that by an amazing coincidence she was there! Well  WMP have confirmed it is TRUE!!!!! And it was not just some wet behind the ears rookie cop but a senior DS!


The Police are saying that the DS attempted "cold calls" at the Hortons' without success and then directly contacted Cashmore to meet at the address. As a result of meeting Cashmore at the address and without apparently making any other enquiries whatsoever, the DS was "satisfied" that Cashmore had shown residency at the premises. Just how f*cking ludicrous is that?


(Incidentally, the nomadic Cashmore has a new Facebook account - not in her usual name - which states she, er, "Lives in Wolverhampton"!)


In addition to matters referred to above I will shortly be referring another potential fraud matter concerning the Labour cesspool to WMP. Let's hope they can get their act together this time!!


Please remember that the Regional Fraud Team investigation into possible corruption at Labour Sandwell is continuing and if you have any material evidence you can speak to DS Wayne Haynes and his team in confidence on 0121 251 2175.

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - A COMMUNITY BLOG - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!

Email: thesandwellskidder@gmail.com                  Twitter: @bcrover (Vernon Grant)

Confidential phone no@ 07599 983737

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