Good friend Planning officer - Took cash - What now?

[Buel]

Hi all.
I'll try to make this brief: A long term friend of mine was, up to late last year, a planning officer for his local council. Unfortunately, he made some stupid decisions and took cash he was offered to help some planning applications. He was caught out (as people like this so often are) and resigned from his job. At the turn of the year, the Police began looking in to the allegations after the council passed on the information they had about him.

Sadly he is now in a specialist mental health rehabilitation hospital after attempting suicide and still has suicidal feelings. He is very concerned regarding what action will be taken against him (He is worried that his family will be punished over this even though I have reassured him that this would not happen). The Police have not yet arrested or spoken to him.

Please can I ask for a vague idea as to what action could be taken against him, I assume prison is a very real possibility?

Any help would really be appreciated as he is a good man who made some very stupid decisions.

[teaboy2]

Re: Good friend Planning officer - Took cash - What now?

Well firstly, not action will be taken against his family as they are innocent third parties. However there is the proceeds of crime aspect, where they may be forced to sell property equal in sum to the money he took as illegal bribes.

As per what action that could be taken - Well the police may not even take any action, if they do it could be just a caution (especially if this is his first offence) but a lot depends on the amount of money where talking about here. I'm assuming it was quite a fair amount, so its likely he could face any of the penalties below that i have taken from the Bribery Act 2010.

11Penalties

(1)An individual guilty of an offence under section 1, 2 or 6 is liable—

(a)on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or to both,

(b)on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years, or to a fine, or to both.

(2)Any other person guilty of an offence under section 1, 2 or 6 is liable—

(a)on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum,

(b)on conviction on indictment, to a fine.

Bear in mind that the prison sentence could also be a suspended sentence, therefore he wouldn't go to jail unless he commits further offenses whilst still on suspended sentence.

[Buel]

Re: Good friend Planning officer - Took cash - What now?

Thank you for that, that is tremendously helpful. As for the amounts, I'm assuming we're talking about £5000 or under.....but I will check on Thursday.
Is this an amount to warrant prison time, maybe?

[teaboy2]

Re: Good friend Planning officer - Took cash - What now?

Well it wouldn't just be the amount he accepted as a bribe that would be considered, the court/judge will also consider the impact of his actions. I.e. if planning permission was granted as a result, whereby it would not have otherwise have been granted, then the impact to the value of the land, residents and the values of their home, to local wildlife etc etc etc. So all that would be taken in to account as well before a sentence is given. The more serious the impact, the worse the sentence will be, the less serious the lighter the sentence will be. And off course if their was not real impact, then likely just a suspended sentence and fine, or just either a sentence but no fine or a fine but no sentence.

[wales01man]

Re: Good friend Planning officer - Took cash - What now?

Hopefully he will go to trial and he pleads guilty and takes the punishment sorry to say he was in a position of trust and betrayed that trust.

All in all hope he gets himself sorted and gets a lenient sentence he is at the mercy of the justice system .

[Buel]

Re: Good friend Planning officer - Took cash - What now?

Thank you all, you have been brilliant!

[Buel]

Re: Good friend Planning officer - Took cash - What now?

Hi, just a quick update:

Having spoken to my friend at length tonight, it seems that the facts are quite different:
He has not ever 'passed planning applications through' as he has never had that power and said he would never have been that stupid anyway. What he did do was succumb to persistent requests from a few people to help them with their planning applications, as in re-write their applications so that they stood a better chance of being accepted by his manager. Not lieing in any way but using the correct phrases and procedures. For this, he accepted payment of a few hundred pounds from each person.

The investigation came after someone (falsely, it was just someone who had ignored my friend's advice regrading an application and became bitter when it was turned down) alleged that he helped someone's application nine years ago and the council were duty bound to investigate the claim. My friend resigned in fear that the two people he had eventually agreed to help within the last year had come forward. They have not.

Unfortunately, since his resignation his reasoning has not been rational and has obviously worried so much that he attempted suicide. He does now seem to understand that things are not as serious as he first thought.
The police are meeting him at the hospital next week to interview him for their investigations.

I hope this clarifies matters for you. Any comments would be welcomed.
Thank you - B

[teaboy2]

Re: Good friend Planning officer - Took cash - What now?

Hi, just a quick update:

Having spoken to my friend at length tonight, it seems that the facts are quite different:
He has not ever 'passed planning applications through' as he has never had that power and said he would never have been that stupid anyway. What he did do was succumb to persistent requests from a few people to help them with their planning applications, as in re-write their applications so that they stood a better chance of being accepted by his manager. Not lieing in any way but using the correct phrases and procedures. For this, he accepted payment of a few hundred pounds from each person.

The investigation came after someone (falsely, it was just someone who had ignored my friend's advice regrading an application and became bitter when it was turned down) alleged that he helped someone's application nine years ago and the council were duty bound to investigate the claim. My friend resigned in fear that the two people he had eventually agreed to help within the last year had come forward. They have not.

Unfortunately, since his resignation his reasoning has not been rational and has obviously worried so much that he attempted suicide. He does now seem to understand that things are not as serious as he first thought.
The police are meeting him at the hospital next week to interview him for their investigations.

I hope this clarifies matters for you. Any comments would be welcomed.
Thank you - B

So basically he was employed by those wishing to make a planning application to fill in the applications for them? If so, did he do so accurately? As from what you described, he was basically paid to fill in the applications on their behalf. Basically was paid for providing the applicant a service, which is no different to me paying someone to decorate for me. Though as he was in a public service there many policies, regulations that would apply to him and possible even legislation that would prevent him carrying out such service. unfortunately planning law, as well as the regulations and policies that he'd have to adhere to are not my forte. As it doesn't really fall under employment law.

I think the best thing your friend can do is seek a solicitor that specialises or has knowledge of planning law and the regulations your friend would have be expected to adhere too. I doubt he would be charged with bribery or corruption charges though so long as the application was filled in accurately and wasn't misleading in anyway.

[Amethyst]

Re: Good friend Planning officer - Took cash - What now?

I think possibly it was a part of his job anyway, to help people complete their planning application forms correctly..... taking payment for it outside of his salary would possibly be the issue - particularly if he didn't do anything over and above what he would have done anyway - ie. help people complete the forms correctly.

Help completing your planning application

If you need help completing your planning forms you can call and make an appointment to see a Duty Planning Officer.

Similar I guess to paying a Job Centre Plus employee a couple hundred quid extra to help them fill in a job application when they'd help them anyway as part of their job ?

That's why it would come under employment law IMO.

[teaboy2]

Re: Good friend Planning officer - Took cash - What now?

Thanks Ame

Based on that, its likely a fraud offense that hes committed by abuse of his position by taking the money offered to do work that he was already employed and payed to do as a public servant providing a free public service.

In which case he probably face a sentence similar to previous one mentioned - should the police charge him. Though i think hes more likely to get a caution due to the mitigating factors that have occurred since, if this is his first offense that is.

Ame:

Its not employment law as such, but more policy or regulations (more likely to fall under planning laws than employment) that someone in the OPs friends position would have imposed on them as a duty planning officer of his/her local council. And of course if the ops friend has abused his position and made a financial gain for him/herself in breach of such policy or regulations then it is a case of fraud, which is criminal.

[stevemLS]

Re: Good friend Planning officer - Took cash - What now?

I suspect it is neither planning nor employment law, just to throw a spanner in the works, rather it is likely to be corruption.

Having worked in the public sector for 25+ years, the essence of prevention of corruption policies was to avoid either actual or perceived impropriety. The criminal element will depend on how he held himself out, whether he either said or implied anything improper.

Obviously he has now resigned, but had he remained he is likely to have been dismissed on the basis of the gifts/hospitality policies which contain an outright prohibition on receipt of cash. Secondary employment may have been approved, but would have to have been declared.

I'm afraid I am left wondering whether there is more to this than meets the eye, Council's do not pass allegations to the police lightly (they don't like the publicity) - there is first a rigorous internal investigation and only the, after senior consideration, are decisions taken to involve the police.

[des8]

Re: Good friend Planning officer - Took cash - What now?

Possibly a common law charge of "Misconduct in Public Office".
Though this is retained for exceptionally serious cases, especially where there is no statutory offence

[Buel]

Re: Good friend Planning officer - Took cash - What now?

Hi again all.

Apologies for not updating this thread.
Okay, so the facts are that the Police (CID) interviewed him for 5 hours at the mental health hospital he is still in. After our most recent chat, my friend thinks the amount he took over +5 years could be up to £15,000. His sister, who has a better grasp on where this may be heading, seems to think that there are three strands to what he has done:
1. Bribery
2. Fraud
3. Misconduct in public office.

His solicitor explained to his sister that his job was to keep my friend "out of jail" and says it could go to Crown Court. Make of that what you will.

There were some questions that my friend has that I could not answer so I wanted to know if you kind people could try and help. My friend wanted to know:
1. The Police have taken my friend's phone and even though the texts have been erased, can the Police find out the content of texts going back up to x amount of time?
2. If he gets a fine/is made to pay back the money (instead or as well as jail time), even though his wife owns 60% of their house, could they be forced to sell the house?
3. Does the sentencing go on the amount of money that my friend took or how many offences he committed?
4. If it does go to Crown court and he pleads Guilty, will there still be a jury?
5. Finances are difficult for his wife now that he is not around so he would like to know how important it is to have a solicitor, ie- Is there anything more a solicitor can do other than explain the mitigating circumstances my friend had (Mother dieing from cancer, job workload being extreme, personal life issues, etc)?
6. His solicitor told him that no costs are due until the case goes to court, is this true?
7. Will the costs of the solicitor be dependent on his wife's income?
8. What happens to him if he does get sent to jail and he is still classed as mentally ill/has suicidal thoughts?
9. Would the trial go ahead even if he isn't there/isn't well enough to be there?

I genuinely am sorry for the questions but I have no one else to ask. Thank you for all the brilliant help so far!

[teaboy2]

Re: Good friend Planning officer - Took cash - What now?

Hi again all.

Apologies for not updating this thread.
Okay, so the facts are that the Police (CID) interviewed him for 5 hours at the mental health hospital he is still in. After our most recent chat, my friend thinks the amount he took over +5 years could be up to £15,000. His sister, who has a better grasp on where this may be heading, seems to think that there are three strands to what he has done:
1. Bribery
2. Fraud
3. Misconduct in public office.

His solicitor explained to his sister that his job was to keep my friend "out of jail" and says it could go to Crown Court. Make of that what you will.

There were some questions that my friend has that I could not answer so I wanted to know if you kind people could try and help. My friend wanted to know:
1. The Police have taken my friend's phone and even though the texts have been erased, can the Police find out the content of texts going back up to x amount of time?
2. If he gets a fine/is made to pay back the money (instead or as well as jail time), even though his wife owns 60% of their house, could they be forced to sell the house?
3. Does the sentencing go on the amount of money that my friend took or how many offences he committed?
4. If it does go to Crown court and he pleads Guilty, will there still be a jury?
5. Finances are difficult for his wife now that he is not around so he would like to know how important it is to have a solicitor, ie- Is there anything more a solicitor can do other than explain the mitigating circumstances my friend had (Mother dieing from cancer, job workload being extreme, personal life issues, etc)?
6. His solicitor told him that no costs are due until the case goes to court, is this true?
7. Will the costs of the solicitor be dependent on his wife's income?
8. What happens to him if he does get sent to jail and he is still classed as mentally ill/has suicidal thoughts?
9. Would the trial go ahead even if he isn't there/isn't well enough to be there?

I genuinely am sorry for the questions but I have no one else to ask. Thank you for all the brilliant help so far!

Kind of difficult to answer those questions really as it be like looking in an hour glass and trying to see the future in order to give you answers. Though i will try.

1 - No idea, if like computers, then files are not actually deleted when you empty recycle bin, but simply moved to another part of the hard drive, which allows the police to access them with special forensic software. So its likely similar for deleted text - But that just a guess.
2 - Yes they could be forced to sell, though its unlikely as the court will take in to account your ability to pay the fine and make arrangements for you to pay it.
3 - Varies, a lot depends on the judge on the day. One judge could be lenient another could wipe the floor with you.
4 - If pleads guilty then there will be no need for a jury - So no, no jury!
5 - If hes pleading guilty then all the solicitor can do is explain the circumstances and why he did it.
6 - If the solicitor said that then that is true! Its his offer to act on your friends behalf where no costs will be charged prior to court.
7 - Nope, not unless your friend is eligible for legal aid.
8 - Must likely be sent to a secure mental health hospital.
9 - They won't be a trial if he pleads guilty - Question is is he currently in a fit state of mind to even enter a plea, i doubt that he is if hes still in the mental hospital. So they trial/court action may not take place until he is fit enough and well enough (mentally) to attend.

[des8]

Re: Good friend Planning officer - Took cash - What now?

Regarding points 8 & 9 you may find this link useful to understand the options: http://www.mind.org.uk/information-s.../#.VWOT4k9Viko