A senior Greater Manchester Police (GMP) officer agreed to take an "unpaid career break" before it was found he had taken up a contracted security advisor role at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. An investigation found that on June 9, 2020, GMP Inspector Tariq Butt, who was based at the force's Sedgley Park officer training complex, applied for a three-year career break for “childcare reasons and to go travelling”. He stated he would not work and would be financially supported by his family.
But he failed to inform the force about the Qatar work offer, the force said, and in September 2020 he was employed on the World Cup safety and security operations committee. Subsequent enquiries revealed that in January 2021 while visiting the UK, Insp Butt went to Astley Bridge Police Station and used a computer to access restricted documents relating to police deployments at major sporting and music events. After being unable to download the documents onto an external USB drive, he emailed the documents to his personal account.
During the probe, the force's policy was reviewed, which confirmed officers needed to obtain the green light of GMP's Chief Constable before undertaking paid employment or a business interest while on a career break and no such permission was granted. The panel also heard that in March 2021, Insp Butt informed the child maintenance service that his financial circumstances had not changed and was still entitled to a "nil assessment". This was despite payment.