IPCC makes referral to CPS in PFEW funds investigation

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has been asked to consider bringing charges against a Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) officer over fraud allegations relating to staff association accounts tied into a £1 million transfer of funds. Three serving police officers, two from the MPS and one from South Wales Police, and a retired Greater Manchester Police officer, were arrested in March 2016 after the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) raised concerns. The PFEW – worried after suspicious activity was identified in its banking arrangements – initially requested Surrey Police look into the seven-figure sum reportedly going into a charitable account in August 2015. On Tuesday (July 25), an Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) announced that it had passed a file to the CPS regarding the officer – understood to be former PFEW vice-chair Will Riches. The investigation also concluded he has a case to answer for gross misconduct. The two other officers and a retired officer have been told they have no case to answer, IPCC deputy chair Sarah Green said. Ms Green added: “This has been a complex financial investigation and I have now decided to make a referral to the Crown Prosecution Service as our investigation has found that there is an indication that one officer may have committed a criminal offence. “I am now satisfied we have gathered all the available evidence and it is now for the CPS to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to commence criminal proceedings.” A 2013 review into the PFEW raised “serious questions” over the PFEW’s finances after it found the staff association was sitting on reserves of almost £65 million spread across accounts at both local and national levels. A year later, PFEW treasurer Martyn Mordecai disclosed that he did not know how much money the organisation actually had – describing the funding system as “archaic” and “fundamentally wrong”.