A FORMER Southend Council leader has demanded the resignations of all involved in Thurrock Council’s disbanded fraud team after he was wrongly targeted over bribery allegations reports the Local Democracy Reporter.
In 2022 Thurrock Council was forced to apologise to former Tory leader Tony Cox after launching an investigation four years prior.
The Council started to investigate Mr Cox in 2019 via the now disbanded Natis team over false claims by a whistleblower that he had taken a £1,050 bribe.
It was alleged he had taken the money to prevent Uber operating in Southend, however the money was used to pay for his wife’s legal fees relating to a personal matter.
The case was dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service in 2019 after the allegation was found implausible.
Mr Cox sued Natis for unlawful detention by Natis officers, who did not say they were Thurrock Council staff.
The officers visited Mr Cox’s house and warned him he could be arrested if he did not attend an interview with them. He was then ordered to drive to a custody suite in Barking while a Natis officer went with him.
Mr Cox later settled out of court and accepted an apology.
Mr Cox, now leader of the Reform Group, said: “Even to this day I have snidey comments from someone calling me “taxi Tony”. It had a huge strain on me and my family.
“I tried to warn people this department was making people’s lives a misery. We should never have gone into a counter-fraud arrangement on the basis of trying to make money.
“They showed what appeared to be a warrant card. They even quoted me a code that police officers use when they undertake arrests. This was all in front of my children.
“They thought they could go for politicians because they were completely out of control and what scares me is how many people have been caught up by that team.”
