The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has defended its decision not to explain the nature of the redacted chapter of the Levitt Review, which a spokesperson tells EYE features “unsubstantiated allegations” that is currently being reviewed by law firm Kingsley Napley.

The long-awaited report into the governance scandal at RICS, compiled by Alison Levitt QC, was finally published on 9 September.

The report was commissioned to focus on the controversial goings-on at the institution which resulted in four whistle-blowing directors being wrongfully dismissed in 2019.

Levitt delivered to RICS the findings of her inquiry in August, but the organisation delayed making this public, as it wanted to consider content of the report “carefully” before a “formal response” was issued.

However, the public version of Chapter 5 of Levitt independent review, titled ‘The Issues’, comprises five fully redacted pages.

On page 39, Levitt writes that Chapter 5 contains “allegations out of the scope of my review and thus have not been investigated”.

But a RICS spokesperson has confirmed that a full version of Chapter 5 had been viewed by the RICS Governing Council (GC), which has commissioned Kingsley Napley to produce a report on the allegations within it.

GC will review the report and “decide on any appropriate action”, as soon as it is received, the spokesperson told EYE.

The spokesperson added that Chapter 5 was removed by Levitt herself and consisted of “unsubstantiated allegations outside the scope of her review” and, which, RICS agrees should not be published at this stage to protect “those involved”.

RICS issued EYE with the following statement: “In her Review, Alison Levitt QC recommended that the ‘open’ version of her report should be published and RICS followed this recommendation.

“The material, removed by Alison Levitt QC herself, from the ‘closed’ version provided to Governing Council consisted of unsubstantiated allegations that were outside the scope of her review and, which, she said, should not be published in fairness to those involved. It also concerned minor matters in relation to some staff and one of the four non-Executives, none of which affected her conclusions.

“In Chapter 4 of her report she set out the differences between the two versions in detail and confirmed that nothing was omitted from the Open version on the grounds that it might embarrass RICS or its senior leadership.

“Following the publication of the Levitt Review, Governing Council commissioned Kingsley Napley to review the allegations contained in Chapter 5. When this report is received, Governing Council will review it and decide on any appropriate action.”