IN THE NEWS
£20M SANDWELL COUNCIL TRANSPORT CONTRACT TO GO TO ‘LAND DEAL PROBE’ EX-EMPLOYEE
Opposition councillors have ques- tioned the decision to award schoolchildren’s transport contracts to companies run by a former employee implicated in an explosive report about land deals at Sandwell Council. The only two companies successful in a tendering process to run transport for children with special educational needs (SEND) for Sandwell Council are both run by Azeem Hafeez, the son of for- mer deputy leader Mahboob Hussain. According to the Express and Star both were implicated in the 2016 Wragge report, which alleged code of conduct breaches by ex-Councillor Hussain. Mr Hafeez was arrested over the scan- dal before he was released without charge and the investigation was dropped. He denied any wrongdoing. Sandwell Council bosses were set to
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sign off on the agreement worth over £20m on 16 June which will see SEND transport provided by North Birmingham Travel and County Cars until 2025. Mr Hafeez, 36, is listed as a director of both on Companies House. A council report said the companies were chosen following a “closed bid tender process”. The Labour-run authority said it had chosen providers who “have provided the most econom- ically advantageous tender”. The land deals probe overshadowed Sandwell Council during the mid- 2010s. Part of it looked at the sale of a Coroner’s Office in Smethwick, which was sold to Mr Hafeez, a council
Mahboob Hussain TAXILAWTA
employee at the time for £80,000 in May 2013. Mr Hafeez put in a bid for the site the day before it was advertised. The report says the sales were “likely to be the result” of confidential informa- tion being shared between Mr Hussain and his son. Mr Hussain labelled the report’s findings “lies” but was later found to have abused his position as a councillor by the authority. David Fisher, leader of the Sandwell Conservatives, said: “We’ve been promised they are going to do every- thing transparent and that lessons have been learned. Although they are talking about it, they are not acting on it. “Councillors making these decisions have still got links to previously elected mem- bers.” He added, by choosing companies run by the same person, the council was “putting all its eggs in one basket”.
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18 JULY 2021 RUCTURE unal Matters
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