A LEAKED report has revealed that Stroud District Council went against professional advice when making a £3 million deposit in an Icelandic bank account.
The document, which is now available online on wikileaks, is an internal audit report, which says that the council went against recommendations from their advisor to invest for only three months and instead invested £3 million in Glitnir bank for one year.
The decision meant the money got caught in the middle of the Icelandic banking crisis and the investment is still ‘at risk’ as the council works on ways to get the money back.
A spokesman for Stroud District Council said: "The report was originally kept confidential so as not to compromise the proceedings to recover our investments, but following recent national guidance, and the passage of time, the report has been made available to anyone who requests it.
"Our authorised limits, in the annual treasury management strategy, did allow us to invest with Icelandic banks for up to one year so both investments did comply with our policy which was based upon advice from our previous treasury advisors.
"We have since updated our authorised limits to take account of our current advisor’s advice."
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