This is the best summary I could come up with:

Lawyers have raised alarm at the lack of oversight in local government, as a Guardian analysis found almost one in 10 councils in the UK have been subject to a corruption investigation in the past decade.

Across the UK, 36 local authorities have had councillors and staff accused of economic crimes including fraud and the misuse of public funds, with dozens arrested and convicted.

A recent report on the role of monitoring officers – the person responsible for legal governance in each council – found they are often powerless “even when dealing with proven cases of rule breaking … including serious, harmful and criminal actions by councillors or sta­ff”.

Under current sanctions, councillors can be barred from cabinet, committees or representative roles and be removed from their political party for wrongdoing, with criminal matters referred to the police.

A government-commissioned report found as much as £100m of public money could have been squandered by the “dysfunctional” council and that senior councillors flouted the code of conduct by not declaring gifts or hospitality on a register of interests.

A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: “We are committed to ensuring accountability and scrutiny across local government and that monitoring officers are equipped with powers to robustly tackle breaches of conduct, including barring councillors from cabinet, committees or representative roles.

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