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Tourism boss suspended in financial investigation
ALLEGED "financial irregularities" at a Yorkshire tourist board have led to the suspension of its chief executive while an investigation is carried out.
Richard Jones is in charge of Yorkshire South Tourism and council bosses in Sheffield, where he is based, yesterday confirmed that he had been suspended on full pay.
It is understood that Mr Jones was sent home after it was discovered that half his organisation's multi-million pound budget for 2009-10 had been spent within the first three months of the financial year.
There were also alleged financial irregularities found in the accounts for the previous year.
Yorkshire South Tourism is paid for with a combination of funding from local authorities in Sheffield, Barnsley, Rotherham and Doncaster, along with the regional development agency Yorkshire Forward.
Lee Adams, deputy chief executive of Sheffield Council, which employs Mr Jones on a 63,000 annual salary plus a 10 per cent performance-related bonus, said: "We can confirm a member of staff at Yorkshire South has been suspended.
"Suspension is a neutral act to allow an investigation to take place. As an investigation is now under way we are unable to disclose the nature of the investigation or comment further."
Nobody else has been suspended and police have not been called in to investigate, the council said.
Mr Jones, who helped found Yorkshire South Tourism, was unavailable for comment.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 11 February 2012
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Temperature: -2 C to 0 C
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