AN investigation has been launched into the finances of a group representing thousands of council tenants.

The inquiry will centre on unaccounted for expenditure from the books of the Southampton Tenants and Residents Federation.

Its former leaders have walked away from the organisation and auditors have been called in to scrutinise the accounts.

City council housing chiefs, who have given the group about £30,000 over the past year from tenants' rents, are demanding action although no allegations of wrong-doing have been made.

The new leaders, who are working alongside the council, have now launched a shake-up of how the organisation runs.

Executive members claimed thousands of pounds in expenses over 12 months on taxis, mobile phones and childcare in connection with their work.

Investigators have discovered hundreds of pounds worth of receipts are missing for those expenses from the past financial year.

Ex-bosses, who are currently suspected of failing to manage finances properly, say they have done nothing wrong and that they had always followed federation guidelines.

More on this in tonight's Southern Daily Echo