A HEAVILY blanked out copy of a report into allegations of financial mismanagement of a Harrow charity has been passed to police.

Detectives have been handed the document containing damning findings of a PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) investigation into the management of Harrow Association of Voluntary Services.

However, nearly fifty pages of the report handed to police have been blanked out by the council – the same as the publicly released copy – and detectives do not have illuminating transcripts of interviews conducted by PwC with major figures in the charity.

And in the main body of report, names including former chief executive Julia Smith, former chairmen Alan Peel and Asoke Dutta, and treasurer Mrinal Choudhury have also been blanked out.

The Harrow Times can also revealed Harrow Police were called on August 23 to the HAVS office in Pinner Road to an allegation that keys and financial documents had gone missing.

However, the caller did not ask for an investigation into the matter and it was simply recorded as a suspicious incident.

Detectives will be looking in the report at findings that five members of the charity, which receives an annual £90,000 grant from Harrow Council, received £17,910 in bonuses between 2007 and 2009 that were not approved by the board of trustees.

And Ms Smith, who has since resigned from her post, agreed with Mr Peel to “keep stum” about the bonus scheme, plus she herself received other unauthorised payments in 2008/09 to boost her salary from £53,178 to £80,215.

The transcripts restricted from police by seen by this paper show Cllr Choudhury, the deputy mayor, and Councillor Rekha Shah, who is now portfolio holder for cultural and community services, deny knowledge of the bonus scheme before it was raised as a problem by auditor Judith Brookfield.

The transcripts also reveal Councillor Joyce Nickolay, another trustee, told investigators: “It just took my breath away because it was all bonuses for several years had been paid all at once.

“Alan Peel didn't ask Julia [Smith] to go out of the room, it was just presented to us as a fait accompli. All these bonus payments had been made and I just couldn't believe it but we had to accept it because it had been done.”

She said she was concerned about being accused of bullying by challenging the bonuses, but did at a crisis meeting in January this year ask Ms Smith to repay the tax and national insurance on the bonus, something that had not been done.

Cllr Nickolay then says she raised the problems with Hugh Peart, director of legal and governance services, but was subsequently “kicked out” of a meeting in June when Ms Smith's resignation was discussed.

Councillor Susan Hall, leader of the Tory opposition on the council, last week urged the Met's Fraud Squad to investigate, and praised Cllr Nickolay for bringing the allegations to light.

She said: “It’s incredible that some of HAVS’ trustees have continued despite their overwhelming failure to properly oversee HAVS. The entire organisation must be dissolved, with a new organisation created – and with far tighter financial controls.

“This whole sorry episode would still be unknown were it not for the determination of one trustee who did her public duty. This courageous councillor deserves our thanks for enduring real opposition from her fellow trustees to alert the council to HAVS’ misuse of tens of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money.”

The charity, which acts an umbrella organisation for the third sector in Harrow, has now elected five new trustees to the board and two acting chief executives have been appointed.

At a chaotic annual general meeting before the investigation report was released, trustees agreed to hold another, extraordinary, meeting to discuss the findings and plot the way forward.

The council, which froze the charity's funding in June, has stepped in to help the charity reform the way it is run and has recommended a review of the funding streams at HAVS is carried out.

The Harrow Times has made efforts to contact acting chief executive Sarah Kersey, former chairman Asoke Dutta, and former chief executive Julia Smith, but has so far had no reply.