Up to £10k given to drugs forum missing, audit reveals

Public money given to a drug user forum has disappeared, Kirklees Council has admitted.
Public money has disappeared, it was revealed this week.Public money has disappeared, it was revealed this week.
Public money has disappeared, it was revealed this week.

The council and the NHS gave the unnamed forum a grant but the ‘monies appeared to have been misappropriated by one of the trustees,’ according to a council report.

The drugs forum, based in Dewsbury, has not been named and the council has said that the group no longer exists.

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Kirklees Council said it was not clear how much exactly how much money was accounted for. But it could be as much as £10,000.

A spokeswoman said: “£5,000 and £10,000 may have been taken. The funding originally came from the NHS but was administered by the council. Once it was paid to the forum it became their money but they did not take the incidence of theft to the police.”

The missing cash was highlighted in an audit of the council’s financial dealings – which in the vast majority of cases were good.

With tens of thousands of financial transactions annually, just 11 were rated unsatisfactory.

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The report mentions the council’s dealings with the Muslim Mosque Burial Committee, which was looked into last year, after complaints. Shortcomings by the council and the committee left the council shortchanged by at least £25,000

Two further investigations – one into Savile Town Community Association and associated organisations and one which is still under way - cost ‘significant resources’, the report said.

The spokeswoman said: “The report shows the council’s Internal Audit team carried out a range of more than 150 assignments, and found that all the council’s core financial processes were sound.”