CLEVELAND Police has refused to say if its Assistant Chief Constable Sean White has been interviewed as part of a probe into racism.

Claims that he ordered staff to "destroy" an ethnic minority officer who admitted being a whistleblower on racism are at the centre of an investigation being carried out by the Metropolitan Police.

ACC White retires at the end of this month - but is understood to have already had his retirement party and gone off on leave.

Once he has officially left the Force, he is under no obligation to answer questions relating to any misconduct investigation.

Cleveland Police appointed the Met to carry out the inquiry but has refused to disclose to The Northern Echo how much it is costing until it is over. It also refused to say whether he has already left the Force, or whether he had been interviewed.

A spokeswoman for Cleveland Police said: "It would not be appropriate, at this stage, to say whether ACC White has been interviewed or whether he is to be interviewed in the future.

"The costs of the investigation will be collated as it progresses. They will be available at the conclusion of the investigation."

When asked if ACC White had already gone on an extended holiday before his official retirement date at the end of October, the spokeswoman only said: "We've nothing further to add."

A Met spokesman said: "A senior investigating officer has visited Cleveland Police to begin the investigation. It is being carried out under normal police regulations. This can compel serving officers and staff to attend interviews."

Assistant Chief Constable Sean White allegedly gave the "destroy" order to senior officers after the whistleblower admitted leaking information to the media about Cleveland Police and institutional racism.

The ethnic-minority officer later left the force and has claimed he was subjected to bullying.

A complaint was made to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which passed it back to Cleveland Police to investigate.

The complaint also deals with claims the order should have been classed as a hate crime, and that despite being reported to the force’s professional standards department, it was not investigated fully.

It says the force made “minimal efforts” to investigate and had suppressed any further disclosures from serving officers by “intimidation, harassment and ostracism”.

Cleveland Police said the matters had been recorded as complaints and in the summer appointed an external force – the Met – to investigate.

The Met is also investigating a further claim made to the IPCC that senior officers at Cleveland Police conspired to cover up racism.