Police are investigating fraud allegations against Hounslow Homes staff after an internal inquiry finished.
The Chronicle revealed in August last year that a major probe into alleged staff corruption had been launched by the council’s housing arm, which manages 16,500 homes in the borough.
In a joint statement today, Hounslow Council and Hounslow Homes confirmed the internal inquiry had been completed and the information had been handed to Hounslow Police, who are to launch their own investigation.
Councillor Steve Curran, Hounslow Council's cabinet member for housing, said: “As soon as these issues became apparent, we took action. An independent investigation was conducted, and the findings of this have been passed to the police, who have subsequently confirmed that will be will be carrying out their own investigation based on the independent findings.
"Clearly, with the case being legally active, we cannot comment on the detail of what was discovered. But what I can say is that the council, and the new Hounslow Homes management team, will not tolerate any kind of fraud. If it is reported to us we take those reports extremely seriously and they are investigated and acted on."
A council spokesman was unable to say whether any staff at Hounslow Homes had been suspended or sacked as a result of the internal probe.
Police were informed of the fraud inquiry, which sources have told the Chronicle relates to hundreds of thousands of pounds being misused, last year. Senior staff were believed to be among those under investigation.
