Charles Adje returns to the Council Majority Group

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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on October 12, 2011 at 11:42

Clive, it may be helpful to stick to facts we know for certain - which include an estimate of at least £1.5 million lost. Which isn't in any way to downplay or excuse Cllr Adje's role. Or to pretend the loss wasn't very serious.

Most people are now aware of the brutal cuts in Government grants to Haringey and the impact on our local services. Could any decent person fail to be sick to their stomach thinking what could be "put back" if we had another £1.5 million?

(Tottenham Hale ward councillor)

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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on October 12, 2011 at 18:46

Would he have received seven years in jail had the Lib Dems won the majority?

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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on October 12, 2011 at 21:10

"At Least" is the right phrase to use in connection with the £1,500,000 estimate.

In the Walklate 2 Report, Martin Walklate was asked to assess the scale of losses that arose from the Licence to Firoka. The most succinct answer to this is in Paragraph 109:

 

Depending on the method employed and the accuracy of the allocation this would suggest that the loss to the Trust is somewhere between £1,487,000 and £2,023,000. This is the figure that needs to be considered as arising from the decsion of the Trustees on the 24th April 2007.

 

Heading                                                                 Method One £        Method Two £

Loss of ice rink income                                             500,000                   500,000

Loss of licence income                                             162,000                   162,000

Loss of covenant income by simple approximation        825,000                    —

Loss of covenant by attempt at calculating profit        —                           1,361,000

                                                                              __________            __________

                                                                              £1,487,000             £2,023,000

 

The loss for our Charity in the 12 months accounting period to March 2008 (which bridged the eight month occupation by Firoka) was in the order of £3.1 million. I would argue that — at least to some extent — the business dislocation on either side of the Firoka Occupation should also be laid at the door of the disastrous Licence.

Other losses that I'm aware of to which Cllr Adje is linked are the Tech Refresh project: £10,000,000 over budget. A noteworth parallel with Cllr Adje's conduct, is contained in a comment I've just come across in the magazine Computer Weekly:

When I investigated an IT project at Haringey council [which was nothing to do with SAP] I was surprised at how easy it was for ruling councillors to keep information from the electorate and even other councillors.

 

There is arguably at least some "line" responsibility by Cllr Adje for the loss of our deposits in Icelandic banks (£37,000,000). We hear little of the prospects for recovery; this sum would also come in handy at the present time.

But the paper trail is best documented and most researched in relation to the Licence-to-Firoka, promoted by Cllr Adje while acting as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Alexandra Palace.

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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on October 13, 2011 at 1:10

Clive, as you know, I am no friend of, nor apologist for Cllr Charles Adje. But I also strongly believe in judging people fairly on the basis of factual evidence. And - respecting the principles of natural justice - after they have had a full opportunity to present their side of the story.

Those tests were met rigorously with the scandal of the licence to Firoka at Alexandra Palace. Cllr Adje's responsibility was clearly and exhaustively established by no less than three published reports by Martin Walklate. The third of which followed the careful and detailed work which you did.

The tests were also met in the case of a complaint to Standards for England - formerly the Standards Board - which found that he had leaked a confidential report on the Welbourne Centre to Mr André Grant a local solicitor. Parts of the report referred to confidential financial information about rival bids and the site’s value. Cllr Adje explained that he had "sought independent legal advice". It appears that Cllr Adje may not have been aware that Mr Grant was a director of a company called Planet Homes (Welbourne) which was a potential developer of the site.

Your post speculates about a longer list of matters. Can I suggest that such speculation may well be inaccurate and deeply unfair.

At best, it's likely to be confusing. I'm sure we've both had experience of seeing people "glaze over" when we try to explain the events surrounding Cllr Adje's part in the Licence to Firoka. In this and the Welbourne Centre, the truth is best served if we stick to what we actually know Charles Adje did or what he signally failed to do.

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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on October 13, 2011 at 8:51

Despite the 18 month investigation, not many more facts came out. At the Hearing, my close observation of Councillor Charles Adje and former AP General Manager Keith Holder suggests these two slippery characters were about the last people you'd want running a major Charity. I kept seeing two eels in a bucket! Mr Adje often seemed incapable of giving a straight answer - the investigator said as much.

The investigation was limited, restricted and constrained in too many ways to go into here.

I suggest that what we know is that there is a pattern, at a minimum, of big financial misjudgements. There was clearly carelessness and recklessness, but in some cases the pattern is consistent with at least the appearance of impropriety.

The Licence to Firoka was not a one-off incident and there's no suggestion that Mr Adje has remotely said or believed that "oh my gosh, I've made a terrible mistake, I'm so sorry, it'll never happen again". Mr Adje blames others for the Firoka Licence.

 

In the Welbourne case, I am not sure what evidence there is that Cllr Adje could have been unaware that solicitor Mr Grant was involved in property development and a potential developer of the very site about which Mr Adje took to him detailed sensitive information. If Mr Adje has denied he knew Mr Grant was director of a company called Planet Homes (Welbourne) Ltd., is this credible?

This remarkable coincidence is about as believable as the topical Adam Werrity just happening to be dining in the same restaurant at the same time as Defence Secretary Liam Fox ... in Dubai.

I suppose it is possible, but is it likely or plausible?

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