Former South Ayrshire council leader facing no criminal action over alleged procurement fraud

Former South Ayrshire Council Leader Martin Dowey will face no criminal action after a police investigation over alleged procurement fraud.

But a separate investigation looking at whether Councillor Dowey breached the councillors’ code of conduct continues.

The Ethical Standards Commissioner is tasked with undertaking an investigation into councillors, then presenting their findings, along with a recommendation, to the Standards Commission for Scotland.

The Standards Commission can then agree or disagree with the findings and take action, such as suspension or censure.

The recording, which would see Cllr Dowey resign as Council Leader in May, was of a meeting between him and a businessman, and saw Cllr Dowey talking about the procurement process, and how the company would have to make a bid that would get them on the shortlist for a contract.

He said: “If you are in the final three we decide who we pick but if you are not in the final three I can’t say ‘wait a minute, my pals aren’t on it’ or whatever, you canny say that.”

When asked if he promised they would get the contract, Cllr Dowey tells them that they are the only ones who are able to do the work.

It is understood that, at the time, no company had been found by the council to undertake the work via their HubSW procurement framework.

While the police have found no criminality in the recording or during their further investigation, the issues around the code of conduct are different.

This will see the ESC investigation take a view on Cllr Dowey’s words and actions and whether they breach the code of conduct.

In the recording Cllr Dowey is heard calling officer’s ‘f useless’ and that he could ‘sack’ senior managers.

The code also states how a councillor should deal with lobbying, stating that is ‘where I am approached by any individual or organisation who is seeking to influence me for financial gain or advantage, particularly those who are seeking to do business with my council (for example contracts/procurement) or who are applying for a consent from my council’.

The code states that a councillor should ‘in deciding whether, and if so how, to respond to such lobbying, I will always have regard to the objective test, which is whether a member of the public, with knowledge of the relevant facts, would reasonably regard my conduct as being likely to influence my, or my council’s, decisions.”

So, while the content of the recording may not have been deemed criminal, there is a lower bar for whether it breaches the code of conduct.

The ESC said that the investigation is still taking place.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We received correspondence which has been assessed, and no criminality has been established at this time.”

Councillor Dowey insists that the company had been dealing with then Assistant Chief Executive Mike Newall at the time when a group from the company arrived at the council offices unannounced claiming a grievance with a job that they had already been asked to carry out.

He said: “There were five of them, and they were asking very pointed questions. I knew that there were difficulties with getting a contractor for the Station Hotel and that the company was in contact with Mike Newall.

“So I answered the questions as best I could and then got in touch with Mike to tell them, ‘these guys are in my office and aren’t happy’.”

He admitted that he shouldn’t have said what he did about officers the way he did.

He added: “This has been very hard on my family, so I am pleased that the police investigation has shown there was no criminality.”

Earlier this year, Central Ayrshire MP Alan Gemmell raised a point of order in the House of Commons to put on record his concerns about the situation and then joined Elaine Stewart, the MP for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock, to call for an independent probe.

They said: “We are asking both Russell Findlay and South Ayrshire’s councillors to support an independent review into the awarding of building contracts, and their subcontracting arrangements since Martin Dowey became leader in 2022.

“A review would help restore public confidence that no conflict of interest or breach of the council’s processes has arisen.”

South Ayrshire Council indicated that as the complaint had been raised by a ‘third party’ it would not be appropriate to comment.