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Black police group funding frozen | Black police group funding frozen |
(about 1 hour later) | |
National Black Police Association funding has been frozen while accounts are studied for evidence of "improper activities", the Home Office has said. | National Black Police Association funding has been frozen while accounts are studied for evidence of "improper activities", the Home Office has said. |
Improper financial actions could lead to a fraud investigation, it added. | |
The NBPA's legal adviser, Ch Supt Ali Dizaei, said there were failures in the handling of finances but there had been no criminality or misconduct. | |
The association, which was told of the decision at the start of the month, received £180,000 funding last year. | The association, which was told of the decision at the start of the month, received £180,000 funding last year. |
A Home Office spokeswoman said: "The [NBPA] cabinet were informed on 2 April that, due to inadequate financial controls and a lack of other financial management procedures being in place, their grant and grant in aid funding for administration was frozen with effect from 1 April." | |
Leaked letter | |
In December, the association, which has more than 10,000 members, announced that it had launched an internal inquiry to "improve the way financial transactions are decided, recorded and scrutinised". | |
Accountants had been brought in to advise on financial matters, the association said. | |
That followed Home Office concerns about whether the NBPA had ever produced properly audited accounts. | |
According to a letter sent to the NBPA on 4 April - obtained by the Police Review magazine - the Home Office has set out of a number of conditions to meet before funding will resume. | |
Ch Supt Ali Dizaei said the freezing of funds, which prevents any money leaving accounts, was an inconvenience that would "blow away". | |
The association had invited a review of its own finances and had then reported the results to the Home Office which was now conducting its own review, he said. | |
The NBPA, formed in 1999, acts a support network and also aims to drive the recruitment and retention of black police officers. |