ANGRY members of the public who had wanted to question Bexley councillors about their handling of the issue of Ian Clement and his council purchasing card have been left frustrated.

Three people had tabled questions on the issue for last week’s Bexley Council meeting, but were told there was no time to deal with them.

Instead the time allotted for public questions was taken up with two questions which allowed the Tory-run council to announce major election manifesto initiatives.

The questioners wanted to know why the council did not seek independent legal advice on whether the former council leader’s use of the card was fraudulent; why no council officers were disciplined for failing to withdraw his card and why the council had changed its mind on sending a copy of its internal audit report to the police.

An attempt by Labour group leader Councillor Chris Ball to extend the time limit to allow the questions was defeated.

Although council leader Councillor Teresa O’Neill tried to answer the questions as part of her report to councillors, one of the questioners, John Watson, from Maidstone Road, Sidcup, said the council had deprived him of the chance to ask a second, supplementary question on the issue.

Cllr O’Neill said a full forensic audit of Mr Clement’s use of the card had been carried out by an expert team, and was made public.

It had also published councillors’ expenses for the past seven years on the council website.

She claimed the council had not needed to seek a barrister’s advice on the report, as Bexley’s monitoring officer, Angela Hogan, was also the council’s most senior legal officer.

The report had also been sent to the police.

Cllr O’Neill explained no action had been taken the first time Mr Clement had used the council card for personal spending because it had been a genuine mistake.

She said by the time the other invoices for personal spending arrived, Mr Clement was about to leave the council so taking back the card had been unnecessary.

She said the audit report had been sent to Bexley police which had forwarded it to New Scotland Yard for scrutiny.

It was also sent to the district auditor and the Audit Commission.

A formal complaint about Mr Clement’s possible breaches of the councillors’ code of conduct has been made to the council and will go before Bexley’s standards committee in January.