Council staff yesterday confirmed they had received a legal opinion advising against trying to recover former Citifleet vehicles from individual buyers, who in some cases had bought more than one car.
That was because former Citifleet team leader Brent Bachop - the man at the centre of the ongoing fraud investigation - had been entitled to sell the council's vehicles as part of his role.
Buyers such as Cupid Shop owner Carl Lapham, who bought two former Citifleet cars through a middleman, have said they were not aware of anything untoward when they bought the vehicles.
Council chief executive Dr Sue Bidrose referred Otago Daily Times questions about the legal opinion to council group chief financial officer Grant McKenzie.
Mr McKenzie told the ODT the council's legal advice was if individuals had bought a Citifleet car ''in good faith, it's unlikely we'd be successful in recovering that vehicle''.
''That would not be the same ... if people bought multiple vehicles.''
He would not be drawn on the situation for specific buyers, but said it made sense to focus only on those who had bought the most vehicles.
''If you look at it from a practical point of view that's where you'd be focusing, isn't it?''
Dr Bidrose would only say the council was continuing to work with the police, and ''looking forward to when we're able to release the [Deloitte] report''.
Her comments came after the council last month called in police, and notified the Serious Fraud Office, following the completion of Deloitte's three-month investigation into the alleged decade-long fraud.
At the time, the ODT was told the council planned to go after car buyers, and others who profited from the alleged fraud, in an effort to recoup ratepayers' money.
The Deloitte probe revealed 152 vehicles had been sold, and proceeds worth more than $1.5 million pocketed, since 2003, although there were suggestions the alleged fraud went back much further.
About 30 people who bought small numbers of the Citifleet vehicles had since been spoken to by police, but they appear to be in the clear, the ODT understands.
Attention will instead shift in the next few weeks to the larger players in the investigation, including members of a Dunedin family said to have bought about 25 of the vehicles, it is understood.
Representatives from at least two Dunedin car yards are also expected to be spoken to, as is Mr Bachop's widow, Maria Smith, the ODT understands.
The police investigation is expected to be completed by the end of the year, but it is not yet known if charges will follow.
If not, the coroner is expected to begin considering the circumstances around Mr Bachop's sudden death.
Mr Bachop died after being approached by council staff about initial ''discrepancies'' within the vehicle fleet.
Mr Lapham, who bought one former Citifleet car for himself and another for his son, yesterday said he had also heard the council's legal advice did not favour reclaiming the cars.
''I actually had two lawyers come in ... They're quite happy to take my case because the bottom line is Bachop had the DCC authority to sell them.''
The latest developments left him with mixed emotions - relief he was unlikely to be pursued by the council, but ''gutted'' as a ratepayer the alleged fraud had gone on for so long, he said.
He had spoken to police, but was yet to hear from the council, and had a simple plan if the council moved to reclaim his car.
''I'd burn the bastard before I gave it back to them.''
