This is the key conclusion included within four reports issued in the public interest covering Criccieth Town Council, Llannor Community Council, Buan Community Council and Llanbedrog Community Council. The author of the reports is Anthony Barrett, an auditor appointed by the Auditor General for Wales.

Mr Barrett has issued these reports to draw to the public’s attention failings in governance arrangements and internal control at the Councils which allowed public funds to be stolen by the clerk at the time.

As a consequence, Mrs Sian Francis was sentenced in March 2007 to 15 months in prison for false accounting offences totalling over £64,000 whilst she was employed as Clerk to the four Community Councils. The criminal activity of Mrs Francis has been dealt with by the courts. The published reports focus on the failures of the Council’s governance arrangements and the inadequacies in internal control which allowed the theft of public money.

Anthony Barrett comments “There are important lessons here for all people working in public office. Concerns were first raised by the internal auditor but these concerns were not properly considered by the Councils. Once we began our investigation it quickly became clear that one of the reasons why the clerk was able to steal this money was because councillors were signing blank cheques. Members should never sign blank cheques. They wouldn’t sign blank cheques from their own personal accounts and they shouldn’t do it with public money for which they are responsible”.

The reports contain recommendations which should help protect the public purse in future Community Council activities.

Notes to Editors:

• The Wales Audit Office is independent of government and is responsible for the annual audit of some £19 billion of annual public expenditure. Its mission is to promote improvement, so that people in Wales benefit from accountable, well-managed public services that offer the best possible value for money. It is also committed to identify and spreading good practice across the Welsh public sector.
• The Wales Audit Office was created in April 2005 through the Public Audit (Wales) Act, 2004, which expanded the functions of the Auditor General for Wales and enabled the transfer of staffs from the Audit Commission in Wales and National Audit Office in Wales to his employment.

For more information please contact Helen Keatley on 029 2032 0518 or email helen.keatley@wao.gov.uk