Request for investigation into councillor’s expenses claims

The whistleblower at the centre of the expenses row at Orkney Islands Council could find himself under investigation into his own financial claims.

One, or more, unnamed “members of the council” have lodged a request with the local authority’s chief executive calling for an investigation into Councillor Russ Madge’s mileage expenses claims. The council confirmed this week that they had received a request this week, and said it would be considered after the local elections in May.

But the former chairman of the council’s monitoring and audit committee has responded by saying he has “nothing to fear” from an investigation, and he has now called for Audit Scotland, or another independent body, to scrutinise all councillors’ expenses claims over the term of the last council.

Full story in this week’s The Orcadian