Met’s public affairs chief Dick Fedorcio resigns
Scotland Yard’s head of communications quits after the police decide to launch disciplinary proceedings against him.
Mr Fedorcio resigned after the Metropolitan Police decided to launch disciplinary proceedings against him over the award of a contract to an ex-News of the World executive, Neil Wallis.
An investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) concluded that Mr Fedorcio had a “case to answer” over the procurement of the contract.
Mr Wallis’s company Chamy Media was paid £24,000 by the Met for communications advice between October 2009 and September 2010.
Report
In a statement, the IPCC chair Deborah Glass said: “In July 2011 the IPCC received a referral from the Metropolitan Police Authority in relation Mr Fedorcio.
“We decided to independently investigate the relationship between Mr Fedorcio and Neil Wallis, a former deputy editor at the News of the World, focusing on the circumstances under which a contract for senior level media advice and support was awarded to Mr Wallis’ company, Chamy Media.
“That investigation concluded and a report was sent to the MPS Directorate of Professional Standards on 10 January 2012. Our investigation found that Mr Fedorcio has a case to answer in relation to his procurement of the contract for Chamy Media.
“Last week the Metropolitan Police Service proposed to initiate proceedings for gross misconduct and I agreed with that proposal. In light of Mr Fedorcio’s resignation today, those proceedings cannot now take place and I propose to publish our investigation report detailing our findings, in the next few days.”