Caerphilly County Borough Council spent more than £488,000 on unlawful payments last year, according to its annual accounts.
More than £270,000, already considered unlawful by the Wales Audit Office, was paid out through salary rises for council bosses. In addition, £218,563 was also found to be unlawful after a council review.
The annual accounts for 2012/13 state the council spent £102,709 on a buy-out of essential car use allowances and £115,854 on a buy-out of additional annual leave.
The payments, according to the accounts themselves, were considered unlawful because they were decided by people without the appropriate authority.
Caerphilly County Borough Council has said the payments have been referred to auditors.
The accounts show five senior bosses including chief executive Anthony O’Sullivan, received unlawful salary payments worth a combined £94,081.
Mr O’Sullivan and his deputy Nigel Barnett are currently on police bail after being arrested on suspicion of fraud and misconduct in a public office.
Controversial pay rises for 21 council bosses, which were later deemed unlawful by the WAO, were voted for last year by a secret committee meeting of five councillors. That vote was based on a report penned by Mr O’Sullivan himself, whose wage rose from £132,000 to £158,000.
That matter was referred to Avon and Somerset Police for investigation.
Another WAO report, published recently, has said Caerphilly Council has “significant” governance issues.
Payments to staff were deemed UNLAWFUL, that, according to most lawyers and Policemen means ILLEGAL. Suspended O`Sullivan has another, more liberal, interpretation to explain his actions.
O`Sullivan is Suspended from duty on full pay at the moment, including, one assumes, because we have not been informed to the contrary, his share of these `Unlawful` payments, which sit languishing in his bank account.
What the Observer does not inform us is the identity of those officers of Caerphilly Council who received these illegal payments, they are:-
Anthony O`Sullivan, SUSPENDED FROM DUTY £25,182 ( Equivalent of the total yearly state pension for almost six pensioners)
Nigel Barnett SUSPENDED FROM DUTY £13,870
Albert Heaney Director of Social Services Promoted. £14,279
Sandra Aspinall Still at her desk controlling the Education of the Borough`s Children and controlling a huge public purse budget, so presumably she has done nothing wrong?. £19,083
Dan Perkins Still at his Desk issuing legal advice to the Council as its senior Solicitor, so, presumably he has done nothing wrong either?. £21, 647.
As this money was paid to them all under an `unlawful` process I am wondering if they have yet paid it back?. or, indeed, has the Labour Leader demanded the repayment of this money back to the public purse?.
Almost #500,000 taken from us secretly, how can the legal officer remain in post? His position must be untenable? What reliance can be placed on his professional opinion now?
What of the Labour cabinet, they received the Hay report in July 2012 and kept it secret from even other Labour councilors. Andrews, Reynolds, Jones and the rest must now resign, they can never again be trusted, they are guilty of conspiracy and complicity in defrauding the public of Caerphilly.
The TEN cabinet members of Caerphilly are tainted with the deliberate attempt to defraud the public purse. Labour as with Plaid are cowards in the face of the management of Caerphilly.
Peter
The definition of 'unlawful' as given by my copy of the Shorter Oxford dictionary.
Unlawful – Prohibited by law; illegal.
Since this scandal emerged the council has attempted to pretend there is a distinction between the words, 'unlawful' is just a bit naughty, not really illegal. Well, to most people in the real world, where administrative staff of modest talents are not paid over £100,000 annually, the two words are interchangeable.
I look forward to the day when the people involved appear in court to answer for their actions. As Trefor Bond points out there are more people than just the Chief Exec and his deputy who need to respond to the people that pay their wages; that is us, the long suffering council tax payer.
FRAUD
If fraud is suspected (an act or course of deception deliberately practiced for financial gain) then all parties involved should be investigated.
Dear Mr XXXXX
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 – INFORMATION REQUEST
Thank you for your request for information received on the 28th January 2013. We have considered your request and provide the following information:
1.Were the Labour cabinet/members consulted prior to the commissioning of this report.
Yes
2. Who commissioned/authorised the report.
The Chief Executive as Head of Paid Service Commissioned the report, with the approval of the Leader.
3. When was it commissioned.
Initial work on this issue was commissioned in April 2011 and has been an iterative process thereafter.
4. The precise scope of the commission.
To produce a design for the additional grade banding within the senior pay structure, to provide market data for comparison purposes to review the appropriateness of our arrangements in relation to our reward strategy
5. When was it completed and submitted to CBC by Hay Group.
As stated earlier this has been an iterative process – completed in July 2012
6. What did it cost
Total cost of £7k
7. Who paid for it.
The Council
8. The date when the report was given to the members of the Remuneration Committee –
The Hay Report was an appendix to the Report by the Chief Executive which was received by the Committee members on 3rd September 2013.
9 Were any of the Labour / Plaid groups aware of this report prior to the meeting 5th Sept 2012,
Cabinet Members were aware of the report.
We supply this information based on your original request. If this is not what you wanted or if you feel we have not fully understood your request please do not hesitate to contact me to clarify your exact requirements.
If you have any queries or concerns or are in any way dissatisfied with the handling of your request please contact me.
Yours sincerely,
ASSISTANT INFORMATION OFFICER
Freedom of Information Act 2000 / Environmental Information Regulations 2004
Peter