Thursday 14 May 2009

Hypocrite Freer wastes another £10,000 of your money!


In a week when MPs have been exposed as a bunch of money-grabbing, self-serving parasites, Barnet Council Leader, and wannabe MP for Finchley, Mike Freer has awarded £10,000 of taxpayers’ money to one of his Cabinet colleagues who is being investigated by the council's Standards Committee.


Can you guess which councillor it is?

Since 2007, the council has taken out insurance to provide cover for councillors facing investigation. But this little piggy decided that he didn’t like the solicitors chosen for him by the insurance company. He wanted Beachcroft’s instead - one of the top firms in the country.

When officers were clocking up legal bills which ran into hundred of thousands of pounds, Mike Freer (then only Deputy Leader) questioned why such expensive firms had to be used when there were cheaper alternatives. But it seems that when it comes to looking after one of his mates, Mike is happy to splash the taxpayers’ cash.

Freer declared his decision to award the money as “urgent”, which means that the Cabinet Overview & Scrutiny Committee cannot now question him as to why we have to pay £10,000 for something which the council’s insurers were willing to provide for nothing.

This is yet another abuse of the democratic process from a man who is unfit to hold public office.

UPDATE: The taxi loving councillor is being investigated by the council’s own Standards Committee, not the Standards Board for England as previously stated. This actually makes the “urgency” issue even more serious. Given that the council is conducting its own investigation, it can set its own timetable. There was no urgency. This was just a flagrant abuse of process.

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