Edinburgh Sucks! | Council learns nothing from being fined

Alistar Frater

Council learns nothing from being fined

By The Basa ⋅ February 20, 2006 ⋅

After being fined £5,000 (taxpayers money) for failing to protect a whistleblower who highlighted the total mismanagement of almost £400,000 which the auditor found “no system of control” the Council, Ewan Aitken and Lord Provost Lesley Hinds have not learned at all. Both Aitken and Hinds were on the board of ELLP which saw CityConnect waste the cash and were warned by the auditors in two letters to the board but sat back and allowed Council employees to waste almost half a million taxpayers pounds.

The senior officials in the Council are furious that they lost the case according to our sources. What is more unbelieveable is the stance now being taken by the council. As the case involves the Lord Provost and Ewan Aitken we have been informed that it has been decided that the whistleblower should be discredited at all cost. We are informed that a smear campaign has already started within Children and Families organised by Mr. Rosendale and his management team. Staff have been informed that a political and corporate decision has been reached to show the Whistleblower the door. This has appalled the majority of staff who are hardworking and are dismayed that the council are willing to harrass this employee out the door. He should be applauded for his courage, however, it is apparent for all to see and is indeed now widely accepted by staff in other Council Departments that we have corrupt officers in the Children and Families Department who will stop at nothing to hide their malpractice

Company Secretary, and according to web sites and emails and mail into EdinburghSucks.com - “thief-in-charge“, for ELLP was Mike Rosendale who has since the fiasco been promoted in the Children and Families Department. Rosendale should have been investigated under company law because he obviously failed ELLP as their Company Secretary. Rosendale had the audicity to tell the Evening News “We set about sorting out the slackness in the project and the board are satisfied that what happened was a result of poor record keeping rather than anything untoward.” This is a lie and he knows it, he was in charge of the project for years and it is his responsibility to make sure that OUR money wasn’t wasted. His boss Ewan Aitken must make sure that he is fired with immediate effect and the Lothian & Borders Police brought in otherwise the Reverend and the Lord Provost will be seen as guilty as everyone else involved. Why was Rosendale promoted after the project was wound up when he admits to a newspaper that he oversaw “poor record keeping” with almost half a million pounds? Of course, it is widespread knowledge that it wasn’t poor record keeping - it was theft.

Further, as there is currently an action against the Council by Dr. Christine Fitton who left her position in charge of ELLP because of the dirty tricks that were going on, why is Mike Rosendale now also trying to tarnish Dr. Fitton’s reputation?

News now into the EdinburghSucks.com reports that Mike Rosendale’s wife has now been employed in Social Work and has been appointed as the whistleblower’s manager. The lady in question Christine Mackay was formerly employed by Midlothian council where interestingly enough, she has recently come from Midlothian council where she was the subject of four complaints for harassment by four different staff. It is widely believed that she had to leave Midlothian as these cases were due to be heard against her. The cases have subsequently been dropped as you cannot prosecute a case against the staff member who has left post.

Through a series of e-mails in late 2002, “Donald Reekie” alleged the three had set up a private firm outside of Cityconnect, employed family members on the project and claimed Mr Hillson paid Mr McDougall £300 towards the cost of a new car.

The written tribunal ruling stated these claims were confirmed by the three men when they were called as witnesses during the hearing in May last year.

Further news into us here at EdinburghSucks.com is that Mr. Frater and Mr. McDougall who together are still running their private company from council premises, namely Gilmerton Community Centre (behind the Council firewall). They have not been distanced from the Council by Children & Families heirarchy even after all lording over misspending almost four hundred thousand of OUR pounds. They are currently offering and delivering Tiscali services on a commercial basis from the abovementioned community centre. One of their companies, Wabster or WabsterIP have to contact Companies House soon, they have never filed any accounts with them. What will happen to the community organisations if this company goes under in bankruptcy. For example many Craigmillar organisations and the South Edinburgh Echo community newspaper and the half million pound Haywired Center in Craigmillar which McDougall is currently in charge of and we assume many others.

The myEdinburgh website and backend system which the Council have only marginally drawn away from is still accessed and used by Frater and McDougall throughout a lot of their commerical clientbase which consists mostly of unwitting community organisations which get funding from the Council and Communities Scotland.

Further news into EdinburghSucks.com shows that a council employee (still employed), namely David Hillson, signed over the ownership of myEdinburgh to a private company called MercuryTide even although it was council money that built it. The contract did not go out to tender at all - it was handed to MercuryTide.

At the launch of myEdinburgh, there was a lavish party in the Museum of Scotland in Chambers Street and just to show how corrupt the whole CityConnect, ELLP fiasco was, McDougall hired his wife to organise the lavish launch party at the museum - did this go out to tender? Nah!

As well as EdinburghSucks.com, TES are this week highlighting the problem:

News: Hunt is on for ICT cash

David Henderson Published: 17 February 2006

John Travers: “Sufficient straws in the wind to believe that all was not as it should be.”

Opposition councillors in Edinburgh are calling for an independent inquiry into the running of a lifelong learning project at the centre of allegations of serious financial mismanagement.

External auditors looking into the running of a community-based ICT project said they could not account for around £378,000 of New Opportunities Fund cash distributed between 2002 and 2004. Other possible irregularities have since emerged.

Liberal Democrats are now pressing the Labour-run authority to instruct the council’s chief executive at a full council meeting next Thursday to order an investigation by the city’s internal auditor.

The move follows the vindication last month of John Travers, a community education worker, at an employment tribunal. Mr Travers was awarded £5,000 costs after he took the council to a tribunal to clear his name and end disciplinary action against him.

Read the full story in this week’s TES Scotland

Taken from: http://www.tes.co.uk/2193025

This whole saga should now be put into the hands of Lothian & Borders Police - Rosendale and Hillson should immediately be suspended (without pay because of the amount of public money missing) pending the outcome of inquiries by the Council and the Scottish Executive, and investigations by Companies House and the Police.

This is corruption on a massive, ingrained and widespread scale! The integrity of the Council, the Lord Provost and the Executive Member for Children & Families is now completely in doubt.

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More Info: http://news.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=199682006