A SENIOR Labour councillor has blamed Tory rivals over a bonus scandal that rocked a charity.

Harrow Association of Voluntary Services (HAVS) was thrown into chaos when former chief executive Julia Smith had to resign over secret payments on top of her salary made from public money.

The scandal took place under the noses of senior Labour councillors appointed as trustees of the group but one has blamed Harrow Council's previous Tory administration.

Councillor Rekha Shah is now responsible for the department that pays grants to voluntary groups but was in opposition when the bonuses were paid.

She said: “We were council representatives. Our role was to monitor that the service was running properly. We don't look at all the nitty gritty. We shouldn't have been made trustees.

“It all happened when they were in administration, they didn't take steps to deal with it.”

She told the Harrow Times councillors did not have time to effectively audit the organisation's accounts and said responsibility for scrutiny of how council grants are spent should be done by the department.

Councillor Mrinal Choudhury (Lab/Edgware), Harrow's deputy mayor, was not only a trustee but was given specific responsibility for finance and did nothing to stop the secret payment.

He told investigators he “looks at all the invoices and other payments and normally see all the paperwork before signing it.”

But when later asked about the bonus scheme he told them: “If the auditor is happy then I am happy. As treasurer, I don't do the book-keeping.”

He has never answered questions from journalists on the scandal.

Councillor Chris Mote (Cons/Pinner South) was responsible for the Community and Cultural Services department at the time bonuses were paid out and said councillors who volunteer to sit on a charity's board must take responsibility.

He said: “We are not pushed into doing it, it's their choice. If a member takes part in a voluntary group and then says 'we didn't do a very good job', I can only say it's their own fault.

“If you volunteer for something you either do it to the best of your abilities or you don't do it.”

Cllr Mote said the end of year audit would always have picked up the bonus payments.

Ms Smith resigned after the bonus payments emerged.

Councillor Jean Lammiman (Cons/Hatch End) was in charge of the department after Cllr Mote and was at one stage on the charity's board.

She told investigators the board of trustees was “like a coffee morning doing business” and “an accident waiting to happen”.