A shock new report has revealed a senior local authority official resigned after a city council-led fraud probe.
Figures which will be presented to councillors next week show the internal Corporate Investigation team launched a trio of inquiries into claims of “major” financial irregularities.
No individuals are named in the report, but a source at the town house revealed last night that former RAF officer Kiemon Stewart was the official who quit.
The ex-flight lieutenant, who was the authority’s building services operations manager, was accused of replacing the windows at his girlfriend’s Manor Park flat before those of other waiting tenants.
Mr Stewart is believed to have been receiving a salary of about £50,000 and left the authority in September.
The report to the council’s audit committee reveals three “major” fraud investigations were launched last year – two are now closed but one is ongoing.
A case of alleged bribery has also been reported to police from within the council.
It is alleged a member of staff from another public organisation contacted a council “service user” to alter a house valuation for a fee.
One allegation of “minor” fraud was investigated and £100 recovered due to an “administrative error” by a private company.
Two cases of staff misconduct relating to fraud were investigated.
In one case the officer questioned resigned and the other received a written warning after a disciplinary hearing.
It is understood the resigning officer was Mr Stewart and he was not put under the “major fraud” category because he did not personally benefit.
The report reads: “Fraud, whether organised or opportunistic, has the potential to affect all council services to some degree and we all have a duty to protect the public purse.
“The misconduct inquiries could have been classed as fraud referrals when the allegation was made.
“No evidence was found during the investigation that officers personally benefited from their actions hence the inquiries were managed under the managing discipline policy.”
Last night, Aberdeen North MP Kirsty Blackman described the report’s contents as “worrying”.
The former city councillor said: “It will come as a concern to anyone that Aberdeen City Council have launched such a seemingly high number of major fraud investigations.”
Eben Wilson, chief of the Taxpayer Scotland pressure group, urged the local authority to review its risk management process.
But depute council leader Marie Boulton said: “While it’s obviously concerning these frauds have been detected I think people will be reassured we have processes in place to investigate this.
“Without passing comments on the individuals involved, it does show we do look into allegations made.”
