A news conference today is expected to reveal more details of the governance scandal which has engulfed the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors this year.
The conference will give details of a 400 page report prepared by the independent QC Alison Levitt; she was asked by RICS to investigate the controversy, and delivered her report to the institution’s steering committee of the governing council last month.
The news conference comes a day after industry publication Property Week broke the news that talks were underway regarding the chief executive of RICS, Sean Tompkins, stepping down.
Tompkins is the third high profile departure from RICS according to Property Week.
In August, managing director Matthew Howell left the under-fire body to take up a position at the British Medical Association, and in June, chief operating officer Violetta Parylo resigned unexpectedly.
The controversy follows allegations earlier this year, chiefly in the Sunday Times, about apparent failures by RICS senior figures to act on a report by accountancy firm BDO.
This report said that two years ago RICS was at risk of “unidentified fraud, misappropriation of funds and misreporting of financial performance.”
BDO’s report gave the lowest possible 'no assurance' rating for the effectiveness of RICS’ financial controls.
The newspaper allegations also claimed that four RICS non-executive directors who wanted the organisation to act on the report’s concerns had their appointments terminated.
Shortly afterwards RICS made some 140 people redundant while Sean Tompkins - chief executive since 2010 - was paid £510,000 including £250,000 in bonuses.
You can see the exclusive Property Week report here.
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Do any of us really care about this? The only controversy that we care about is how they ballsed up the EWS1 with many people not able to remortgage or sell their homes and suffer in some cases eye-watering bills for waking watch and repairs.
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