Expense claims defended by Cleveland Police chief constable (From The Northern Echo)

Expense claims defended by Cleveland Police chief constable

8:00am Tuesday 21st February 2012 in Hartlepool News By Graeme Hetherington

EXPENSES claims for overseas trips made by police officials at the centre of a fraud probe have been defended by one of the men at the centre of the investigation.

Sean Price, the chief constable of Cleveland Police, and three other officials spent thousands of pounds on trips to the US and Estonia in 2009 according to expenses documents filed at the force.

But last night, Mr Price maintained that all of the claims were above board and in line with the force’s rules and regulations.

At the time of the conferences, Mr Price was involved with Airwaves, which researched and developed the future of police information and technology and counterterrorism research in England and Wales.

A statement issued through Mr Price’s solicitor said: “The cost of the chief constable attending these conferences was appropriate and in line with other chief officers attending foreign conferences.

“The expenditure was recorded, audited and made public on the force website and no complaint has been raised previously.

“The costs referred to were for both the authority and the force. The chief constable cannot comment on their part of the expenditure.”

The chief constable, who has been suspended since his arrest in August last year, went on the trips with his staff officer and future partner, Detective Chief Inspector Heather Eastwood, police authority chairman Dave McLuckie and deputy chief executive Julie Leng, who left the authority in December.

On both trips they attended conferences hosted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

Mr Price and Redcar and Cleveland borough councillor Mr McLuckie have both been arrested as part of Operation Sacristy, an inquiry into people with current or past associations with the authority and the manner in which it may have conducted some of its business.

Both men have maintained their innocence since the investigation was launched.

The pair, along with Deputy Chief Constable Derek Bonnard and former force solicitor Caroline Llewellyn, are on bail in connection with the investigation being led by Keith Bristow, the director general of the new National Crime Agency.

The figures also show that Mr McLuckie racked up a £1,600 mobile phone bill in one month and spent hundreds of pounds on meals using the authority’s credit card.

A Cleveland Police Authority spokeswoman said: “You will hopefully understand that the Sacristy investigation is looking at many issues relating to a number of individuals.

We cannot comment on specific issues at this stage.

“The authority has already publically accepted that there were failures within the authority and force.

“The new chairman, chief executive and temporary chief constable are undertaking a comprehensive review of all governance processes, and many changes have already been made to ensure that such issues do not and can not happen again.

“In respect of corporate credit cards, the authority has already tasked its auditors to carry out an independent and urgent review of the use of credit cards and we will make their report public and implement any recommendations that the auditors put forward.

“We expect that report to be completed within a couple of weeks and published at the end of February.

“The chairman of the police authority had made it absolutely clear that all allegations relating to the misuse of public money will be fully investigated – without exception, and that the findings or any such investigation will be made public as soon as we are legally able to do so.”

Mr McLuckie was unavailable for comment last night.