Wolverhampton Conservative Party in trouble over accounts failure
Wolverhampton's Conservative group is being investigated by finance bosses from the national party after failing to declare its accounts last year.
The compliance team at Tory headquarters has intervened after the city's Conservative federation breached party rules by repeatedly failing to produce 'an accurate set of accounts'.
It comes after the group's members voted 'almost unanimously' to suspend its AGM in March due to no accounts being declared for 2015.
This was despite 'numerous requests' to the federation treasurer for the documents to be presented, according to the Conservatives regional chairman Maggie Punyer.
The city's Tory group is currently in turmoil, with one councillor suspended for six months over claims that he attempted to interfere in a ward election, while allegations of an assault at a party meeting are going through the courts.
In a letter to Wolverhampton group members, Mrs Punyer wrote that as the accounts had not been prepared, they 'could not be presented for approval by members prior to their submission to Conservative HQ and their onward submission to the Electoral Commission'.
She added that this was 'a very serious matter', particularly given that 2015 was a General Election year and the federation included a target constituency'.
She said numerous requests were made to the federation treasurer Hazel Keirle.
Mrs Keirle did not respond to the Express & Star's request for a comment.
The Tory group has been barred from electing federation officers until the accounts have been submitted and declared financially sound.
