By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
Cotswold District Council’s former leader Joe Harris is calling for an apology after being cleared of misconduct.
A code of conduct complaint was lodged against the Liberal Democrat councillor after he revealed he was the unnamed councillor mentioned in a counter fraud investigation into the authority’s procurement of communications and rebranding work.
That report did not find any fault with Cllr Harris. However, he decided to go public and refer himself to the monitoring officer last year for “complete transparency”.
He has now been cleared after a full review of the evidence as the council’s monitoring officer, in consultation with an independent person, concluded that there was no breach of the code of conduct.
The decision notice states that there is no evidence that Cllr Harris influenced the outcome of the procurement and that he did not take part in evaluating bids or awarding the contract.
He did not misuse his position or exert pressure on officers and did not receive any personal or indirect benefit
There was no undeclared conflict of interest and the code of conduct report also makes clear that any issues identified relate to internal officer processes, not councillor conduct.
Cllr Harris has welcomed the outcome and is calling for an apology after rumours and conspiracy theories spread about him online.
He said the outcome of the investigation makes clear that in his case there was no undeclared interest.
He also told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that his partner was employed months after the procurement process ended by one of the firms which sought, but was not awarded, the council work.
“I welcomed this investigation so the facts could be properly established,” he said.
“The conclusion is clear – I did not breach the code of conduct.
“This has been a difficult period for me and my family, when the facts weren’t clear, rumours and conspiracy theories spread on social media.
“The council’s counter fraud report referred to an allegation of an undeclared interest involving an unnamed councillor, I came forward as that councillor in the interest of transparency.
“The outcome of this independent investigation makes clear that, in my case, no such undeclared interest existed. The implication arising from that report was therefore incorrect.
“Given the findings of this code of conduct investigation, I believe it is now appropriate for the council to acknowledge that the implication arising from the counter fraud report was incorrect and to apologise for the impact this has had on me and my reputation.
“If the counter fraud team had interviewed me as part of their original investigation I could have set the record straight and all of this could have been avoided.”
The council has identified lessons to strengthen its internal procurement processes, but these do not relate to any misconduct by Cllr Harris.
District Council leader Mike Evemy (LD, Siddington and Cerney Rural) said he welcomed the outcome of the investigation and the fact Cllr Harris has been cleared of any wrongdoing.
“I am aware of the pressure that this process has put on him and his family in the last five months while the complaint was live,” he said.
“I will discuss the outcome of this complaint with the chief executive and her senior team, so we can learn from this and consider Joe’s request for an apology from the council.
“While no wrongdoing was identified on his part, the original investigation made recommendations to further strengthen the council’s processes, and we have already implemented these through a robust action plan to ensure our systems remain transparent and fit for purpose.”