BOLTON Tories are demanding a fresh investigation into the circumstances surrounding the Asons scandal.

Veteran councillor John Walsh says claims made in a post on The Bolton News website include information not available to councillors at the time Bolton Council signed off a £300,000 grant to the liquidated solicitors firm.

The online comment by an individual purporting to be an “insider” raised questions about the grounds on which the grant was secured.

It also claimed chief executive Paul Najsarek resigned after just five months in post as he refused to sign legal documents passed under emergency powers without his authorisation.

Now Cllr Walsh says his party will now pursue a new investigation “with the utmost vigour”. He said: “In my view and that of my colleagues it’s new information that needs to be investigated to remove any suggestion that there has been improper practice within the council.

“We paid a third of the cost of a £1m refurbishment, so should have had invoices to prove more than £900,000 of work carried out.”

“Unless £1m worth of invoices are produced there are sufficient grounds to say that the matter should not be left on the table. We will continue to pursue this with the utmost vigour.”

And Cllr Walsh says that scrutiny committee members were not privy to vital information before the cash was released.

He added: “This is fresh information that was not in the public arena . When we challenged this at scrutiny the veracity of the invoices we were told ‘we have seen invoices’ by officers. But members have not seen them.

Cllr Walsh, added that he had never seen any evidence of work going on at the building for an extended period.

Following discussions between the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the liquidator in charge it was revealed in June that Asons owed £26m when it ceased trading

And this month Asons was branded “disgraceful” in by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. A 47-page judgement said it had caused significant harm to the profession and put clients at risk.

A Bolton Council spokesman said: “The council’s external auditors reviewed the Asons grant as part of their 2016/17 audit.

“They found that the grant was legal and appropriate and only one recommendation was made relating to the council’s use of the emergency powers procedure. This recommendation has been fully implemented which was reported by our auditors to an audit committee meeting last week. The grant has also been repaid and we have no further comment to make on this matter.”