My blog post yesterday prompted a flurry of media interest, which resulted in the following statement being issued (my emphasis added):
A Newham Council spokesperson said:
“The Council’s draft accounts for 2016/17 were first published on our website on 3 July and were then open to the normal period of public scrutiny until 11 August. These draft accounts are currently with our auditors for their review. The finalised accounts are due to be considered at a scheduled meeting of our Investment and Accounts Committee on 20 September.”
“Our draft accounts, which are subject to change and approval, show a prudent, responsible and regulatory compliant treatment of a Council loan related to the London Stadium. The loan is shown, for accounting purposes, as currently ‘impaired’, or damaged, due to the current financial performance of the Stadium. It is not a write off of the loan.”
The draft statement of accounts, which I linked to in my post, says on page 12 (again, my emphasis added):
“These charges are subsequently written-off to the Capital Adjustment Account.”
If Newham don’t want people thinking they’ve written things off they should probably avoid using the words ‘written-off’ in the accounts.
But let’s not split hairs. Let’s accept that the loan is indeed, as that spokesman says, “‘impaired’, or damaged, due to the current financial performance of the Stadium.” And then compare that to what Sir Robin said when the loan was first taken out (my emphasis added):
“Even on the most disastrous figures, even if everything goes wrong, we still make a profit on this.
“The risk is really, really minimal.
“The debt, which costs our residents nothing, will be repaid and then we start to share in the profit.“
Just one season into the operation of the stadium and it turns out that not a word of this true.
The Investment and Accounts Committee meeting on 20 September is a joint meeting with the Audit Board. It is public and details are on the council website. I predict the public gallery will be busier than usual.
UPDATE (13/09/2017): The meeting has been moved to Wednesday 27th September. Same venue: Committee Room 2, Newham Town Hall, East Ham, E6 2RP.
forestgatedotnet 
Good luck with getting a straight answer from the politicians and accountants. Perhaps they could get estate agents involved so a trinity of the devious could be achieved.