WAVERLEY Borough Council has confirmed its entire leadership was notified of a £200,000 fraud in the build up to this year’s election - fuelling claims of an alleged cover-up.

Council staff were duped into paying more than £200,000 taxpayer’s money into a fraudulent account intended for its repairs contractor Mears in the spring of 2014. The matter was reported to police, who are yet to track down the fraudster, and with the help of its bank Waverley was able to recover “a significant proportion” of the lost funds.

But the full extent of the fraud was not made public until October – and only after a council whistleblower spoke out, prompting accusations of a cover-up.

And responding to a question by UKIP election agent Hugo Alexander, Jim Edwards chairman of the council’s audit committee, confirmed no fewer than 19 councillors – all Tories – were informed of the fraud in early 2014.

This included all members of the decision-making executive and audit committee, among them borough council leader Robert Knowles, his deputy Julia Potts and Waverley’s now-mayor Mike Band.

Following the latest revelations, Diane James, leader of the council’s UKIP opposition group at the time, reaffirmed her belief that Waverley’s Tory leadership deliberately withheld the fraud from opposition councillors to protect its reputation for financial management competence - “a key plank of their re-election strategy”.

The MEP for the South East added: “As leader of the opposition, I would have expected a contact from the leader even if it was requested ‘in confidence’ to inform and advise – this did not happen.

She said: “Looking at the list of Tory councillors produced [by Waverley’s audit committee] it is quite clear knowledge of the matter extended right across the cabinet and specifically included the portfolio for finance, her predecessor and – coincidently – the deputy mayor.

“The council’s response confirms its entire leadership were made aware of the fraud at the time, and yet none of them reported the incident to the full council or in any public meeting for that matter.”

Speaking in October, a council spokesman told The Herald the “relevant councillors” were informed of the fraud at the time, adding the incident was reported in the external audit, a public document.

But this report is limited to a brief sentence referring to “an external fraud affecting the council in April 2014”

Ms James confirmed a comprehensive report of the fraud has never been made available publicly.