District Auditor Investigates Corrupt Payments Claims Update

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News Item

District Auditor Investigates Corrupt Payments Claims Update

(Posted 17/02/11)

The District Auditor has revealed he is investigating allegations of illegal payments being made by Sheffield City Council to an organisation that has close links to senior officers at the authority. The organisation at the heart of the investigation was today named as Common Purpose

District Auditor John Prentice acted after a member of the public claimed payments had been made to Common Purpose that were illegal. Mr Prentice has refused to sign-off the accounts until his investigation is complete.

Common Purpose is a national not-for-profit organisation that runs “leadership development courses” which have been attended by officers from the city council and other parts of both the public and private sectors in South Yorkshire. It is understood up until recently Common Purpose had its own office within the council.

A spokesman for the Audit Commission said: “The District Auditor has received an objection to the accounts relating to payments made to Common Purpose and is still looking into it. Therefore, we can't say anything further at present.”

We hope to bring you a further update on this story within the next few days.