THE Daily Echo’s revelations about Adam Osman – the council consultant with a criminal record for corruption – have led to an investigation being launched by his previous employer.

His work for the City of York Council was the principal reason that Borough of Poole took him on, to help the council save money on contracts.

However, just a month after leaving York, Osman, then known as Ozakpinar, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years jail for one count of false accounting and three of corruption.

He had been working as head of procurement for the Crown Prosecution Service in 2004 when he took £18,000 in bribes from friends to whom he gave work.

Borough of Poole axed the six-month £65,000 contract with his company Granta Associates on May 19, after learning of his conviction and has now reviewed his work, which included major projects such as the Twin Sails Bridge.

A spokeswoman for York said: “Given the information that has since come to light about Mr Ozakpinar, we are carrying out a full internal investigation into his work at the council.”

He worked in the city’s procurement team from October 2006 until August 2007, having been recruited through an agency. Projects he worked on included the provision of computer and IT equipment for schools.

His appeal against his sentence was dismissed in April 2008 at the Court of Appeal.

At the end of last year he was appointed as a consultant in Poole on the personal rec-ommend-ation of Liz Wilkinson, head of finance, who had previously worked at York.

John McBride, chief executive at Poole council said: “A review of the assignments undertaken by Granta Associates in their current stages found the work had been completed to a very high standard.

“It has allowed us to make significant progress on a number of key projects and we are confident we can continue to take them forward.

“It is important to make clear that Granta Associates was never in a position to spend a single penny of the council’s budget or to purchase supplies or services on behalf of the authority.”