Probes into four suspected fraud cases linked to Norfolk County Council

The allegations have surfaced in a new audit report compiled by officials at County Hall to monitor all of the authority's financial activities.

Details about the cases are limited and council bosses are coming under political pressure from opposition parties to reveal more details.

Brian Watkins, leader of the Liberal Democrat group at County Hall said: "This is public money and the public has a right to know what is going on."

It is understood that at least one of the investigations relates to alleged fraud involving the council's 'county farms' estate - the land owned by the authority and farmed by tenants.

Two other cases are said to relate to alleged fraud involving "third parties", but Conservative-run County Hall has provided no further details.

In all four cases, the issues have been reported to police by the council's investigative auditor - a senior financial expert who probes irregularities in accounts.

Police have been investigating allegations of fraud involving county farms for more than a year. Two men - one in his 50s from Wisbech and one in his 40s from Downham Market - were arrested on suspicion of fraud, linked to the estate, in December 2020.

The pair were questioned at King’s Lynn Police Investigation Centre before being released while the inquiry continued.

Norfolk police has confirmed this week that the investigation is still ongoing. A spokeswoman said: "Detectives continue to investigate this complex matter and are working through several lines of enquiry."

It comes after independent auditors were called in to County Hall in 2015 to investigate the running of the farms estate, following complaints about how tenancies were awarded.

A police investigation over alleged fraud related to Norfolk County Council's County Farms estate (Image: Newsquest)

A county council spokesperson said: “We are co-operating fully with the police investigation and cannot comment further at this time.”

Little information has been provided about the other fraud investigations, which were mentioned in a quarterly council audit report.

In addition to the County Farms inquiry, the papers stated two new suspected fraud cases had been referred to law enforcement "in respect of external fraud suspicions identified". The council said it was co-operating with "relevant authorities".

Asked for further details, a spokesperson said: "The cases mentioned relate to suspected Fraud Act offences by third parties.

"We can confirm that both cases are being investigated by law enforcement. We are unable to comment further on ongoing investigations."

The audit papers also referred to "two previously reported investigations" which remain ongoing, of which one is understood to be the County Farms issue.

The council would only say: "The cases mentioned refer to historic allegations of fraud, which following enquiries were reported to (and continue to be investigated by) law enforcement. We are therefore unable to comment on the details."

But the council said it was committed to tackling fraud and to take necessary action.

Adrian Thompson, Norfolk County Council’s assistant director of finance, said: "The county council acknowledges this risk and endeavours to tackle fraud in all its forms, maintain a robust anti-fraud response, and take proportionate action to investigate fraud allegations."

Brian Watkins, Liberal Democrat group leader at Norfolk County Council. (Image: Liberal Democrats)

But Brian Watkins, leader of the Liberal Democrat group at Norfolk County Council, said the public deserved to know more about what the cases entailed - and called for information to be revealed at a meeting of full council.

He said: "We are deeply concerned to learn of multiple more cases of fraud that the police are investigating at the council.

"This is added to the arrests that were made over the fraud allegation linked to Norfolk county farms.

"You do not want to see one case of fraud never mind several. This is public money and the public has a right to know what is going on.

"This should be brought to a meeting of the full council at the earliest possible opportunity, so that the public can hear how much public money has been lost and is now being spent on investigating the fraud."