Misconduct hearing for Leicestershire Police officer accused of failing to declare crypto investment

A Leicestershire police officer will face a misconduct hearing after allegedly failing to declare financial investments.

PC Osama Hussain should have declared a cryptocurrency investment when he joined the force in November 2022 but did not, Leicestershire Police has claimed.

PC Hussain is further accused of being “dishonest and deliberately misleading” when it came to his investments and “fail[ing] to notify the force of any change in financial circumstances”, the police added. Leicestershire Police carries out a series of pre-employment checks on potential staff. These are intended to ensure the “highest levels of honesty and integrity” within the force and to prevent “corrupt, dishonest, unethical or unprofessional behaviour”, the force’s website states.

Vetting supports this by ensuring “only those who demonstrate the highest standards of conduct, honesty and integrity, who are not vulnerable to pressure from others to disclose information or who are likely to bring embarrassment or discredit to the police service, are recruited to the force”, it adds, which it says helps to maintain public trust in the force.

Financial vetting forms part of the process, and through it the force assesses “the risk of vulnerability to financial inducement”. An employee’s clearance could be removed if something they should have declared is concealed and then later comes to light, the website adds.

PC Hussain is accused of not acting with honesty and integrity as expected by the force’s standards of professional behaviour and of discreditable conduct. A misconduct hearing is set to take place at Leicestershire Police Headquarters, in Enderby, at a later date.