Summary
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.
Details
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.