Three men are facing criminal bribery and corruption charges following a major corporate fraud probe at Dundee City Council, we can exclusively reveal.
It has been confirmed Police Scotland have submitted a report to prosecutors after a lengthy inquiry.
The explosive development comes two years to the day since a Courier investigation exposed how the local authority’s head of Construction Services quit in the midst of a probe into claims he was treated to a golf trip on the Spanish coast by a firm awarded a lucrative council contract.
Investigations into the department were stalled by the Covid-19 pandemic but a spokesman for Police Scotland confirmed a 53-year-old man and two others, aged 48 and 31, have now been reported for bribery and corruption offences.
It is understood a number of other council employees have also been the subject of inquiries by officials.
A ‘customer event’ on the Spanish coast
We revealed how two senior council employees attended a “customer event” organised by contractor Edmundson Electrical in May 2019, weeks after the firm began supplying heat and smoke alarms to the authority.
Dundee City Council confirmed Edmundson was subcontracted the lucrative supply deal by Construction Services as part of an £8.3 million project to replace smoke and carbon monoxide detectors set up in the wake of the 2017 Grenfell fire.
Our investigation revealed how the contract was directly awarded to the firm with no other companies given an opportunity to bid for the work.
Senior council official sacked after probe
One senior employee who attended the golf trip was sacked by council bosses following a misconduct hearing in January last year after previously being suspended from his role.
Dundee City Council initially refused to turn over its gift and hospitality register, which lists items given to employees by private firms.
However, after it was released to us under Freedom of Information legislation, it emerged the trip was never declared.
The register’s guidance note states staff must not accept any gifts or hospitality from a supplier or contractor.
It also says any offers of hospitality “may not be accepted unless with the prior approval of the chief executive, who will also determine whether it should be declared”.
A paper prepared for the council’s scrutiny committee in September last year revealed the Construction Services department faced 15 whistleblowing complaints in 2019/20.
A spokesman for the Procurator Fiscal confirmed it has received the report from Police Scotland.