The trial of three Caerphilly Council bosses charged with misconduct in a public office has been delayed for the third time this year.
Caerphilly County Borough Council chief executive Anthony O’Sullivan, his deputy Nigel Barnett and Daniel Perkins, the authority’s head of legal services, were originally due to stand trial in January this year.
The start date of the trial was delayed for a short time initially as the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) readied the case but the trial was again delayed until June this year.
Now the CPS has confirmed it will not get under way until November 16 at Bristol Crown Court.
The three men each face a single charge of misconduct in a public office between June 25 2012 and October 10 2012. The decision to charge the men followed a police investigation into a Wales Audit Office report into pay rises awarded to senior council officers.
The charge alleges the defendants “wilfully misconducted themselves in relation to securing Caerphilly County Borough Council’s approval of a remuneration package for the said council’s chief officers from which they stood to gain for themselves”.
They are also accused of deliberately failing to publish agenda and reports in advance of a meeting of the council’s Senior Remuneration Committee.
The charges state the men also deliberately introduced “gratuitous material” into one of the reports to provide a justification for public exemption.
They are also accused of applying a public interest test notice to the reports to exempt them when it was not merited.
No pleas have been entered by the three men during their previous court appearances and they are currently suspended from their jobs on full pay.
Councillor Colin Mann, leader of the Plaid Cymru group on Caerphilly council, said: “The continuing delay in resolving this matter through the courts is totally unacceptable.
“The court trial was set for last January this year but now has been delayed twice and now put back to November. In the meantime, the bill to the council tax-payers of Caerphilly county borough spirals uncontrolled. The council presently has an interim chief executive and many other officers ‘acting-up’ in more senior roles. It is already more than two years since the former chief executive was first suspended on full pay. Is there any wonder that so many people have lost faith in the British justice system?
“In the interests of justice for the three defendants, it is important that this matter is resolved without further delay.”
According to figures released under the Freedom of Information Act last year, following a request by Plaid Cymru, Anthony O’Sullivan would have received £333,795 by January 5 this year – the original start date of the trial.
Deputy chief executive Nigel Barnett would have received £263,453 while head of legal Daniel Perkins’ pay was £95,601.