LDA inept rather than corrupt, audit verdict

A damning report into the London Development Agency (LDA) released yesterday by the Forensic Audit Panel says the tens of millions of pounds of public money squandered by the agency was the result of ineptitude rather than corruption.

The report, which also raises the prospect of a similar investigation into Transport for London, calls for the LDA to be stripped of its role in the 2012 Olympics and for £8m of cuts across the Greater London Authority, according to the Evening Standard.

‘Our investigations have left us in no doubt that money has been misspent on a massive scale, say tens of millions,’ Patience Wheatcroft, head of the audit panel, said. ‘We're of the view that it was ineptitude rather than corruption that was the biggest blight on the LDA.

She said the panel had been ‘very nervous’ when looking at allegations of misspending by former London mayor Ken Livingstone's former race and policy adviser Lee Jasper as they were being investigated by police.

Further reading:

Livingstone refuses to appear before audit panel

Read the Evening Standard story