Conduct Of Former Councillor Hettie Peters

EDM number 1221 in 1997-98, proposed by Brian Sedgemore on 08/04/1998.

That this House notes that Ms Hettie Peters became Chair of the Management Committee of Hackney Women's Centre in March 1992 and that subsequently aided by Liz Heimlich she failed to pay staff, misused large amounts of public money, failed to submit accounts to Companies House, curtailed activities, made the centre insolvent and saw it closed down permanently; is alarmed that the auditors Ernst & Young found that there were no financial controls and that even the most elementary book keeping was absent although ú14,000 was allegedly spent on accounting services in 1993-94; calls for an explanation of unidentified cash withdrawals of ú26,000 made mainly by Ms Peters and of a further ú8,599 to December 1994 which could not be accounted for; is aware that a limited audit found no positive evidence of fraud as opposed to mismanagement but said that in the absence of records fraud would be difficult to prove; expresses concern that in the 1994 local elections in Hackney Ms Hettie Peters told the Returning Officer that her home address was 86-88 Stoke Newington Church Street N16; notes that this was untrue and that the then occupiers have confirmed that Ms Peters did not live at this address, which consisted of offices over an escort agency, and that she used it purely as an accommodation address; condemns Ms Peters for using deception and fraud to get elected; and calls on the Leader of the Liberal Democrats to disown Ms Peters.

This motion has been signed by a total of 2 MPs.