LINE OF DUTY: Senior Met officers in probe over bullying, credit card and false DPS investigation

FOUR Met Police officers, including a borough commander, a chief inspector and a police sergeant are facing disciplinary proceedings amid allegations of bullying, false allegations about a colleague, misuse of a corporate credit card and issues during promotional assessments.

The month-long hearing, that began on Monday, is the latest blow to the troubled Met that is facing public mistrust in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard by serving officer Wayne Couzens and a series of other scandals.

A Met Police misconduct panel hearing heard this week allegations that Ch Supt Paul Martin (above), who serves as the West Area Borough Commander for Ealing, Hounslow and Hillingdon, allegedly called a pregnant colleague "hormonal" and a "f***ing nutter" and has been known to shout at employees.

Others facing misconduct charges at the hearing are his close friend Chief Inspector Davinder Kandohla, his wife PC Karina Kandohla and PS James Di-Luzio, with the allegations dating back to 2017.

The hearing concerns alleged breaches by Martin of the Standards of Professional Behaviour of honesty and integrity and duties and responsibilities in that he was acting as an assessor in a promotion process in respect of which Chief Inspector Kandohla (above) was a candidate and he failed to declare a conflict of interest over the friendship.

Another connected allegation concerns his honesty and integrity for orders and instructions and discreditable conduct, in respect of conduct concerning a covertly recorded conversation with another chief superintendent and a Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) investigation in relation to the promotion process of Chief Inspector Kandohla. On Monday, the hearing was also told that Martin had allegedly approved £5,500 of his own invalid expense claims in connection with a conference in Florida on the card of PS Di-Luzio, an officer who reported to him.

Among the items he is said to have claimed are flight upgrades, alcohol and travel insurance.

He is charged with discriminatory conduct towards colleagues, including "bellowing" at junior staff and telling some of them to "get a life."

His last allegation is that he instructed "a more junior officer to submit a ‘Right Line’ report with an allegation of improper conduct by another chief superintendent knowing that such an allegation was unfounded."

It is alleged that he asked a female officer to smear another colleague who he believed had "grassed" on him by reporting a false allegation that they had harassed an officer who killed himself, but she refused.

Chief Inspector Kandohla is also accused of failing to declare a conflict of interest during the promotion process, "instructing/pressuring a more junior officer to make a false statement and seeking to mislead and/or frustrate an ongoing DPS investigation in relation to the promotion process, and that he knew the "allegation was unfounded."

He is also accused of discreditable conduct towards junior colleagues on two occasions in 2018.

PS Di-Luzio is accused of misuse of his corporate Barclaycard in connection with the allegation faced by

Martin and of discreditable conduct towards junior colleagues throughout 2017 and 2018.

PC Kandohla is facing an allegation concerning honesty and integrity, discreditable conduct and challenging and reporting improper conduct in that they failed to challenge Chief Inspector Kandohla and were "complicit in encouraging another officer to make a false statement for a DPS investigation."

The hearing continues and is set to last until December 3.

A Met Police spokesman said: "The Directorate of Professional Standards is responsible for making sure all Met officers and staff adhere to the high standards expected of them.

"It provides an independent function within the Metropolitan Police Service that deals with allegations of breaches of standards, complaints from the public, reports of wrongdoing and civil actions against the organisation.

"It works closely with the Independent Office for Police Conduct to make sure that, when it's appropriate, lessons are learned and the necessary changes are embedded across the MPS."