A DECISION not to pursue Lord Hanningfield for the £51,000 he allegedly owes Essex County council has been challenged by the leader of the Liberal Democrats.
Cllr Mike Mackrory has 'called-in' the decision by leader of the county council, David Finch to accept the recommendation of the Council's Audit Committee, which met last week, not to pursue legal action to recover the thousands owed by the former leader.
The committee, acting on advice from independent legal experts and the council external auditors, agreed with counsel's view that the cost of pursuing the case would be significant with uncertain chances of success.
But this stance has not been accepted by Cllr Mackrory who said: "I called in this decision because I believe we owe it to the council taxpayers of Essex to scrutinise this decision.
"There is an overwhelming public interest here for justice to be seen to be done; the £51,000 originally claimed back is a token amount out of the total £288,000 claimed by him whilst Leader of the Council.
"Why should he get away with this when people who are in arrears with their council tax or people who have committed fraud against the council are relentlessly pursued through the courts? Why is there one rule for Lord Hanningfield and another for ordinary people?"
