The investigation saw the Metropolitan Police make referrals for fixed penalty notices (FPNs) – which have been or will be issued – in relation to events on eight dates from May 2020 to April 2021.
Police said a team of 12 detectives had trawled through 345 documents including emails, door logs, diary entries and witness statements, 510 photographs and CCTV images and 204 questionnaires in what they described as a “careful and thorough” investigation.
Detectives have not publicly disclosed the identities of those fined. It is known that among them is former government ethics chief Helen MacNamara, who apologised for an “error of judgement”.
The Met said that 28 people had received between two and five penalty notices.
The conclusion of the police investigation clears the way for civil servant Sue Gray’s report into the parties to be published in full.
A source close to her team said the aim was to publish it as soon as possible, with next week likely.
Downing Street said Mr Johnson will “talk in more detail” about the scandal after the report is published.
Partygate has gripped Westminster and prompted calls from opposition parties as well as some Tory MPs for the prime minister to quit.
Mr Johnson also faces a parliamentary investigation into whether he misled the House of Commons about the parties.
Of those who have been referred for fines by the police, 35 were men – with 53 penalties – and 48 were women – with 73 – the Met said.
The fines relate to events on: 20 May 2020, 18 June 2020, 19 June 2020, 13 November 2020, 17 December 2020, 18 December 2020, 14 January 2021 and 16 April 2021.
Scotland Yard originally said it would not investigate historic breaches of coronavirus rules, but changed its mind and launched an investigation in January of this year.
It said that was based on a number of criteria including whether those involved should have known what they were doing was an offence, whether not doing so would “significantly undermine the legitimacy of the law” and if there was little doubt that there was no defence.
Helen Ball, acting Deputy Commissioner of the Met, said: “There is no doubt that the pandemic impacted all of us in so many ways and strong feelings and opinions have been expressed on this particular issue.
“When COVID regulations were introduced, the Met was clear that whilst we would not routinely investigate breaches of regulations retrospectively, there may be occasions when it would be appropriate to do so.
“The information that we received with regard to the alleged breaches in Downing Street and Whitehall was sufficient to reach our criteria to begin such an investigation.
“Our investigation was thorough and impartial and was completed as quickly as we could, given the amount of information that needed to be reviewed and the importance of ensuring that we had strong evidence for each FPN referral.”
Citizen’s believe that the Prime Minister’s apologies “mean nothing.”
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Source: Sky News