Civic chief reveals he is the mystery councillor in counter fraud report
Councillor Joe Harris has gone public for "complete transparency"
Councillor Joe Harris has revealed that he is the mystery councillor who is mentioned in a counter fraud report at Cotswold District Council.
The report does not find fault with the Liberal Democrat councillor, and while he does not believe he has done anything wrong, he has gone public for “complete transparency” and is referring himself to the monitoring officer.
The move comes after the Conservative Party opposition at Cotswold District Council said they found themselves in a “Catch-22” situation.
They wanted to lodge a formal code of conduct complaint against the councillor mentioned in the report presented to the audit and governance committee on September 30.
However, this was blocked as such complaints need to be made against a named member.
Councillor Harris (St Michael’s) said: “Given the recent interest in the audit and governance committee report on procurement exercises and the speculation that has followed, I want to be clear that the councillor referenced in a section of that report was me.
“I was the cabinet member for communications at the time the relevant procurement exercises were carried out.
“The council’s communications function was being brought back in-house as part of phase one of the Publica transition, and a significant amount of work was underway to ensure the council was able to communicate and engage effectively with residents, and had clear brand identity.
“I first became aware of the issues highlighted in the report in April 2025, after the investigation had concluded. I was not interviewed or asked to provide evidence as part of the investigation.
“The report was only brought to my attention a couple of months after I had announced the decision to step down as leader of the council, and during my final month in the role.
“I do not believe I have done anything wrong. In the interests of complete transparency, I am voluntarily referring myself to the monitoring officer so that they, together with an independent person, can determine whether there has been any breach of the councillors’ code of conduct.
“I will publish the outcome in full once that assessment is complete.”
A counter fraud investigation was launched at Cotswold District Council in October 2024 after whistleblowing concerns were raised over procurement.
The council awarded more than £80,000 worth of work to companies with alleged undeclared links to officers and a councillor.
The counter fraud and enforcement unit looked into allegations that three companies were engaged outside of the contract rules.
One of the three cases looked into related to the commission of rebranding work for the council.
Of the three proposals received by the council, one was a recommendation from Cllr Harris but the one which was awarded the work was recommended by an unnamed council officer.
The report says the appointment of that firm was on the basis of an evaluation of quotations and proposals received from the three companies.
However, the evaluation was not in accordance with the council’s procurement processes.
There was no award criteria specified, evaluation was undertaken by a single officer and was not checked independently prior to the award of contract.
A contract exists which has been signed by the company but it was not signed by the District Council.
And the authority’s legal services, finance and the wider corporate leadership team were not consulted on the procurement of that firm’s services.
The council’s leadership team has since reviewed the findings from the investigation, have agreed an action plan and internal controls around procurement have been strengthened.