Business Charge Card update

Report: 13
Date: 13 September 2010
By: DPS Specialist Investigations on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report updates members on the progress made in reviewing and investigating the potential misuse of MPS Amex charge cards. It is based on information from the Directorate of Audit, Risk and Assurance, MPS Exchequer Services and MPS Directorate of Professional Standards.

A. Recommendation

That members

1. note the progress made by the Directorate of Professional Standards in reviewing and investigating the potential misuse of Amex charge cards within the MPS (including any non-MPS holders of MPS cards), as set out this report; and
2. note the estimate of the likely time to complete the reviews and investigations by the Directorate of Professional Standards and resources required to do this, set out in paragraph 7 of the report.

B. Supporting information

Directorate of Professional Standards - Statistical Overview

1. All of the 195 category A files forwarded by MPA Audit have been reviewed by a DPS caseworker and an initial disposal sanction reached. In total 58 category A cases warranted a sanction being imposed or a formal investigation instigated.

2. The remaining 137 cases have been considered appropriate to be dealt with by either a guidance letter, or no further action taken. The cases of no further action are in the main when the cardholder would have received a letter of guidance, but they have since left the service.

3. The following is a breakdown of the category A cases investigated by the DPS:

1. Nine officers have been charged with criminal offences.
2. Three members of the public have been charged with criminal offences linked to an investigation involving three of the officers referred to above. This case is due to be heard in October 2010.
3. Two of the officers charged have appeared at court and pleaded guilty to ‘Misconduct in a Public Office’. One with £82,000 of personal spend received a 10 month custodial sentence. One for £10,000 personal spend received 8 months suspended sentence, suspended for two years.
4. One of the officers charged pleaded ‘not guilty’ to misconduct in a public office in relation to £12,000 of personal spend. He was convicted of the offence but subsequently appealed. His appeal was successful however the appeal court directed that the officer be re-tried. This trial is due to be heard in January 2011. (This officer was dismissed prior to the first trial.)
5. The case against one officer who had been charged has been discontinued. This case is now with the misconduct unit for consideration.
6. There are five separate criminal trials waiting to be heard in relation to Amex related investigations.
7. One member of police staff was identified as using his Barclaycard for an excessive amount of personal spending. He has subsequently resigned from the service, receiving a criminal caution for theft.
8. Four officers have appeared before misconduct hearings. Two officers received a formal reprimand. Two officers received the sanction of deducted five days pay.
9. Four officers’ await full misconduct proceedings and two further cases are under review by the misconduct unit to ascertain most appropriate level of sanction.
10. Twenty three officers have received written warnings.
11. One officer has received words of advice.
12. In addition to the above figures, one officer has received a regulation 9 notice and one member of staff has received the equivalent notice for staff informing them they are under investigation. These cases have not yet reached a disposal sanction.
13. Fourteen officer’s cases will receive training and guidance letters or no further action. This is due to a formal investigation ascertaining no substantive misconduct.

4. There are therefore four formal investigations that are still to be concluded to the decision point of, criminal charge being made, a misconduct sanction being appropriate or no further action being required.

5. The timetable to complete the current ongoing investigations will be dependant on the judicial and discipline process. There are currently five fixed dates for criminal trials; three trials are scheduled for October / November 2010 while two trials are scheduled during January 2011.

6. In addition to the cases referred to above, four additional cases have been referred from exchequer services regarding Barclaycard use, for local managers to consider misconduct. One of these cases has resulted in a written warning being given, one resulted in management action being taken and the last two cases remain ongoing with no decision made yet regarding sanction.

7. The DPS currently supplies the staff and resources to complete this investigation and have the capacity to deal through to conclusion.

8. Training and guidance letters are due to be sent out imminently to cardholders that were found to have used the card outside of corporate charge card policy. This will be for cardholders that used the card for operational purposes but should have used a different procurement process.

9. DARA are currently conducting an audit of the business card system and will report their findings shortly, any issues identified will contribute to the organisational learning from the Amex review.

C. Other organisational and community implications

Equality and diversity impact

1. The equality and diversity implications of this investigation continue to be monitored by the Director of Resources and the Directorate of Professional Standards. There are not considered to be any adverse implications.

Consideration of MET Forward

2. The review and investigation of the AMEX system will promote public confidence by demonstrating appropriate action will be taken, if the system has been found to be misused. Improvement of the corporate card system will allow for future cost savings in the corporate card spend.

Financial implications

3. All costs for this review and investigation are currently being met from existing budgets. This has required a significant redirection of resources within Exchequer Services, DPS and the MPA Internal Audit Forensic Branch. Business Groups have also had to dedicate resources to support this process. Resources will continue to be allocated until the reconciliation and related investigations are completed.

4. It is standard policy to recover any money owed to the Authority for any reason. Action will be taken to ensure that all funds are recouped where appropriate subject to legal advice.

Legal implications

5. There are no direct legal implications arising from this report, which is for information only.

6. The investigation is being conducted in accordance with Part 3, Schedule 3 of the Police Reform Act 2002, as an IPCC managed investigation. Cases for possible criminal prosecution are referred for decision to the CPS and for possible disciplinary action to DPS, or HR in respect of staff.

7. Where repayment of sums remains outstanding and it is not possible to deduct the monies from wages, files may be referred to DLS. It should be noted that the time limit to bring civil actions for debt is 6 years from when the debt arose, i.e. from when the unauthorised payment in question was made.

8. This report provides openness and transparency in the way the MPS is handling this matter. It also provides confirmation that the MPS is committed to review and evaluate the way corporate cards are used, and ensure there are adequate governance arrangements in place.

Environmental implications

9. There are no significant environmental implications from this investigation. Any matters that arise will be managed by the Directorate of Professional Standards.

Risk implications

10. As outlined in this and previous reports, individual failings being identified and dealt with by criminal, discipline or civil process, minimising the risk of further misuse of the corporate card system. As outlined in this report, significant Organisational Learning has already been implemented resulting in the risk of repetition being minimised.

D. Background papers

None

E. Contact details

Report author: Mark Simmons, Commander Directorate of Professional Standards, MPS

For information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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