THE man who instigated a fraud squad investigation into council corruption claims has raised questions over why no charges were brought.
SNP councillor Stefan Tymkewycz has called for a re-examination of an Edinburgh City Council department where it was claimed repair workers overcharged homeowners and businesses and carried out work that was not needed.
A Lothian and Borders Police probe – which was instigated around the same time as a £2 million Deloitte investigation more than two years ago – found no criminality but highlighted a number of practices that appeared to be going on without unchecked.
Police also found the council left itself open to legal action by breaching tendering processes for repair work done by the Property Conservation Department (PCD), responsible for emergency or statutory repairs to homes and firms' premises.
The council has resisted calls for the Deloitte report to be released, but Mr Tymkewycz has called for an audit that could lead to its contents being made public along with as yet unreleased elements of the police report.
Mr Tymkewycz said: "Since I first raised the issues concerning overcharging and unnecessary works being carried out by the Property Conservation Department, there has been a police investigation which is now complete without any charges being brought.
"I have requested the whole matter be brought before the council's Governance, Risk and Best Value Committee [audit committee] as there are further questions to be asked and answers sought on how this sorry state of affairs was allowed to go on for so long."
The department was disbanded and 800 residents are challenging bills running into millions of pounds.
The PCD is owed £22m from homeowners for repairs that have been carried out since 2009 and for which the council has already paid contractors, and it is estimating about £7m will never be paid back to the council.
Mr Tymkewycz was also critical of the Edinburgh Building Services Christmas parties' sponsorship scandal after it was revealed the department asked contractors, who would later be bidding for work for thousands of pounds, to fund parties for council workers who allocated the jobs.
Although the police fraud squad probe found no criminality, officers discovered a significant number of PCD members have accepted hospitality from contractors, including attending football matches, horse-racing meetings and rounds of golf.
Five workers were sacked and two are understood to still be suspended. A separate investigation into the Property Care Service (PCS), which repairs public buildings in the capital, has led to 17 people facing charges including allegations of fraud and money-laundering.
The fraud squad report said the council "claims to have a policy that such hospitality is declared, however many of the staff are unaware of this and claim they informed their management, who in turn cannot recall individual requests and appear to have no documented records".
As a result the council could face a huge legal bill, unlimited fines and operating curbs with the threat of double litigation, with contractors planning to take the authority to court over the tendering breaches.
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