‘MANY unanswered questions’ remain over Bolton Council’s decision to award £300,000 to a law firm, according to the town’s Conservative leader.

Cllr David Greenhalgh says that the fact that the grant given to the Asons Solicitors last year has now been repaid is ‘irrelevant’ and that scrutiny of the council’s decision-making process is still required.

The grant money was recovered after the firm ceased trading in March and was taken over by Coops Law, which was shut down by the Solicitors Regulation Authority last week.

Cllr Greenhalgh said: “We believe that there are still many unanswered questions over the way this grant was initially awarded, that brought the decision-making process of this council into disrepute.

“The fact that we are told the money has now been returned is irrelevant. If wrongdoing occurred, that wrongdoing needs to be identified and investigated thoroughly, and acted on accordingly.”

The results of an external audit into the awarding of the grant are expected imminently.

At Wednesday’s full council meeting, council leader Cliff Morris said that the law firm’s bosses should ‘do their job properly’ and that Cllr Greenhalgh could have viewed invoices relating to the grant spending at any time since they were requested in February.

Cllr Greenhalgh responded: “Once again, a completely misleading and inaccurate answer from Cllr Morris, who has changed his tune on Asons that often he has forgotten the song he’s actually trying to play.

“At February’s meeting, Cllr Morris made a clear promise that he would ‘request a full payment schedule and copy of invoices be brought to a future meeting of his portfolio’. This statement is clear for everyone to view on the live stream. Cllr Morris has had four opportunities to bring such information to his meeting and failed to do so, and it is absolutely right that I bring this now to full council.

“The smoke screens and red herrings that Cllr Morris now throws into the argument are typical of his tactics when he’s on the defensive.”