Britain's Met Police investigating 7 officers over election-timing bets amid widening gambling scandal

June 27 (UPI) -- Britain's Met Police said Thursday that seven of its officers were being investigated over allegations they placed bets on the timing of the country's general election next week -- before it was called by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last month.

The joint investigation with the Gambling Commission would see the commission handle the bulk of the cases which were related to breaching gaming laws on cheating -- exploiting an unfair advantage -- but the Met was investigating "a small number of bets" that may involve additional offenses, Scotland Yard said in a news release .

The Met said bets suspected of being in breach of the 2005 Gambling Act but with specific features pointing to other offences such as Misconduct in Public Office would be assessed by the Met's Specialist Crime Command to determine what further investigation was required.

"The number of these cases is likely to be much smaller than those in the first category. The Gambling Commission continues to review whether any bets placed on the timing of the general election will be within the scope of either investigation," it said.

Seven officers had been identified, the Met said, from a list of names of those who have placed bets on the timing of the election, one of whom was a police constable attached to the Royalty and Specialist Protection Command.

One of Sunak's "close protection" officers -- who perform a similar role to U.S. Secret Service agents -- was arrested and suspended June 17 on suspicion of Misconduct in Public Office over alleged election wagers. He has since been freed on bail and placed on desk duty.

The Met's Directorate of Professional Standards was being kept informed on investigations of a further six officers by the gambling regulator.

"We are focused on an investigation into confidential information being used to gain an unfair advantage when betting on the date of the General Election," said Gambling Commission chief executive Andrew Rhodes.

"Our enforcement team has made rapid progress so far and will continue to work closely with the Metropolitan Police to draw this case to a just conclusion.

"We understand the desire for information, however, to protect the integrity of the investigation and to ensure a fair and just outcome, we are unable to comment further at this time, including the name of any person who may be under suspicion."

The head of the Met investigation, Detective Superintendent Katherine Goodwin, said: "We have agreed a joint approach with the Gambling Commission who are the appropriate authority to investigate the majority of these allegations.

"There will, however, be a small number of cases where a broader criminal investigation by the police is required."

The police investigation comes amid a widening dragnet that has seen at least five candidates and officials of the Sunak's ruling Conservative Party caught up in the scandal with another 10 said to be in the gaming watchdog's crosshairs, although it has not officially confirmed how many people may be involved.

Sunak, who had been resisting calls to pull his support for his parliamentary aide and the party's candidate for the Welsh constituency of Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr, Craig Williams , and Laura Saunders, the candidate for Bristol North West, jettisoned the pair on Tuesday -- although their expulsion came too late to remove their names from ballot papers.

Saunders' husband, Tony Lee, the Conservative Party's director of campaigning and the party's chief data officer Nick Mason , have both taken leaves of absence.

MP Russell George, the Conservative member for Montgomeryshire in the Welsh Parliament withdrew himself from the shadow cabinet Wednesday a day after the BBC named him as a person being looked at by the gambling watchdog. The Welsh Parliament is controlled by the Labor Party.

At least two politicians are suspected of placing bets on their own fortunes in the election -- one from each of the two main parties.

Conservative MP Philip Davies is reportedly being looked at by the gambling commission over allegations he bet $10,130 on losing his West Yorkshire seat of Shipley come polling day July 4.

Davies narrowly won by 6,242 votes in the last election in December 2019.

On Tuesday, Labor suspended Kevin Craig after it was revealed he was being investigated for betting he would lose in his Central Suffolk and North Ipswich seat and returned $127,000 donated by Craig to the party.

Craig vowed to cooperate with the investigation and apologized to the party and his campaign, saying in a post on X that he had no knowledge of the outcome of the race and intended to give any winnings from the wager to local charities.