Investigating Officer attending Tribunal

My client was investigagted for fraud with her partner. The case against her partner was very strong and most of the evidence in her case stems from that investigation.

The DVD and other evidence against my client was very weak.

My client attended a tribunal in respect of her DLA - we were unable to attend with the client.

The fraud investigating officer was there with the presenting officer.

The fraud investigating officer was present throughout the hearing and was asked questions about the investigation and also directed questions to my client.

I feel a little uneasy about this - we did not request a postponement as in our experience the mere fact that we cannot attend is unlikely to lead to a successful request for postponement but, if we had been aware the investigating officer was to attend we would have requested a postponement and cited this as the reason.

Was this something we should have been made aware of? Should the investigating officer been called as a witness rather than being allowed to sit through the whole tribunal?

I could just be making an issue of nothing but would welcome any thoughts any of you may have….

It’s arguable that the fraud officer should have been kept outside and called as a witness only.  However, I would have no objections to the FO being in the room for the entirety of the hearing but I would have objected to him asking any questions.  That’s the PO’s role.

If i’d been there i would have had no objection to her being present for the hearing either and then could have dealt with her as needed….just have a “edgy” feeling that we should have been told she’d be there. Especially considering the history between this particular fraud officer and my client.

I think the full statement will be interesting.