And the enquiry is ongoing – here is correspondence between Paul Arnott and Devon and Cornwall Constabulary on the subject, whiich was elicited by a Freedom of Information request via the whatdotheyknow website, this correspondence therefore being in the public domain:
Freedom of Information Act Request No: 3614/14
At a meeting of the East Devon District Standards Committee 14 months ago on 29th April 2013 the Monitoring Officer gave a statement in relation to Councillor Graham Brown and his comments published the previous month in the Daily Telegraph.
According to EDDC’s minutes she “advised that the matter had been referred to the Police soon after the article had been published. The issue was then, on advice from Police, directed to Action Fraud under the Bribery Act 2010 and the Council’s own Fraud, Theft and Corruption policy. Devon and Cornwall Police were continuing to look into the matter and the Monitoring Officer was currently in discussions with them about releasing a joint statement.”
According to the Devon and Cornwall Police published policy D22 Corruption in the Public Sector at point 3.1.4 “A person alleging public sector corruption will, if he/she so requests, be interviewed by an officer not below the rank of Detective Superintendent”
Please confirm the date on which the Monitoring Officer was interviewed by an officer of Detective Superintendent rank or above in relation to her report to the police.
Please provide me with any and all “joint statements” made by EDDC and D&C Police as referred to on 29th April 2013.
Please confirm that the investigation is not sub-judice.
The Crime Department and Press Office have provided the following information:
Please confirm the date on which the Monitoring Officer was interviewed by an officer of Detective Superintendent rank or above in relation to her report to the police.
N/A – No request was made by the Monitoring Officer to be interviewed by a Detective Superintendent
Please provide me with any and all “joint statements” made by EDDC and D&C Police as referred to on 29th April 2013.
No joint press statements were made by East Devon District Council and Devon & Cornwall Police
Please confirm that the investigation is not sub-judice.
A report was initially made to Action Fraud in March 2013 who declared it was not a matter with which they dealt. The allegations were subsequently reported to the local Police by the East Devon District Council who appointed a Senior Fraud Investigator to manage enquiries with regards to third party allegations. These enquiries are ongoing.
Source:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/police_protocol_d22_and_east_dev#incoming-542682
East Devon Watch 
Hello EDA blog
Paul Arnott here. I requested this FoI disclosure, and thank the police for their response, made on the twentieth day of the 20 allowed them in law.
I would also like to make clear that this matter ought to be cleared up quickly and if anyone is hanging under an unjust cloud their good name ought to be restored.
That said, what was most noteworthy in the police reply was the confirmation that although the Monitoring Officer made a minuted pledge to provide a joint statement on the status of any investigation absolutely none was ever made, or, it seems, attempted. (I put in an identical FoI to EDDC on this “joint statement” issue. They have two and a half hours to meet their own legal obligation to respond within 20 days)
Did anyone think this could all drift for eighteen months in silence? Did the Monitoring Officer’s boss, or the Leader, or the Cabinet, not wonder about this?
Last night, Cllr Susie Bond asked a number of clear questions about the status of this investigation. The line from the top desk was, the police haven’t told us anything … and, er ….
The other interesting detail in the police reply is about the inital, risible call to the Action Fraud hotline, which it is now confirmed by police was followed up by an EDDC call to local police, and the eventual passing of the file to a former policeman, now the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary’s Senior Fraud Investigator.
What we don’t know is if any actual complaint was ever made, or by whom, or whether there is a vital “crime number”, or whether this investigation has even been entered as an investigation in the Devon and Cornwall Police Public Sector Corruption Register – as should be the course.
Ultimately, a year and a half on, this guarded Freedom of Information response is all we have from our regional police force, of a piece with last night’s three wise monkeys routine from East Devon Council.
What we do know is that this is NOT sub judice., but to deduce that you have to read between the lines. A simple “No it isn’t” would have covererd it.
Don’t know really. Is that the cheese in my fridge going off in the hot weather, or is this growing whiff coming from somewhere else?
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A reconstituted EDDC Overview and Scrutiny Task and Finish Group on the relationship between EDDC and The East Devon Business Forum would answer many of your questions and those of the police (should they ever get around to it). Chances of this happening: zero because Mark Williams (EDDC CEO) presumably with the agreement of Leader Diviani and soon-to-be ex-Monitoring Officer D Lyon seem to have agreed that it is to be airbrushed out of EDDC history.
I wonder why?
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