The criminal prosecution of three senior council bosses at the centre of a pay scandal has been dismissed.
Caerphilly County Borough Council’s chief executive Anthony O’Sullivan, his deputy Nigel Barnett and Daniel Perkins, the authority’s head of legal services, had their charges of misconduct in a public office dismissed by a judge at Bristol Crown Court today, Tuesday, October 20.
The trio have been suspended on full pay since their initial arrests in 2013. The wage bill for them, an interim chief executive, and legal bills has so far cost taxpayers around £2.6 million.
Caerphilly MP Wayne David, Caerphilly AM Jeff Cuthbert and Council Leader Keith Reynolds have all said they intend to pursue the Ministry of Justice for public reimbursement, given the cases against the three have now been dismissed.
Mr David said: “I am appalled that it has taken so long for this decision to be arrived at. It is disgraceful that the Judiciary and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has allowed this case to drag on for so long. It has been nearly two-and-a-half years since the arrest of the officers and during this time Caerphilly County Borough Council and its residents have been obliged to spend millions of pounds.
“I have previously raised this matter with the CPS and now I intend to raise it in Parliament and seek reimbursement from the Ministry of Justice of the millions which have been spent. It is outrageous that the failings of the CPS and the criminal justice system have cost a local authority so much money, especially at a time of public expenditure cutbacks.”
Mr Cuthbert said he would be working with Mr David and said the CPS had “failed”.
He said: “I completely fail to understand why the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has not been able to convince the judge of the merits of going to trial. The CPS has had more than two years to put their case together and it’s clear that they have failed.
“The cost to CCBC has been considerable and all at a time when money for public services has been in very short supply.”
Cllr Keith Reynolds, Leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council, said: “Many people will be extremely concerned and frustrated about the length of time this process has taken and the costs that have been incurred to date. There are serious questions to be asked of the CPS about the length of time taken and we will be seeking to recover the salary costs of the suspended officers which are now in excess of £1 million.”
Lindsay Whittle, Plaid Cymru AM and former Caerphilly Council leader, said: “The time it has taken to resolve this matter is outrageous. The public have paid a high price for the dithering of the legal system. It is now crucial that the local authority acts to bring this whole matter to a conclusion quickly because the unlawful pay debacle has cost the council millions of pounds.”
Councillor Colin Mann, leader of the Plaid Cymru group on Caerphilly council, said: “What a way to run a justice system. For this to be dropped suddenly after more than two-and-a-half years beggars belief.
“The unlawful pay scandal has cost tax-payers millions of pounds that could have been spent on services to the public.
“The council using its specially set up internal committee needs to meet quickly with the aim of bringing this matter to a conclusion as quickly as possible.”
Mr O’Sullivan, Mr Perkins and Mr Barnett had each faced 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 report by the WAO found the decision to award secret pay rises to 20 council bosses was unlawful because Mr O’Sullivan had himself written a report recommending the pay rises and that he was present at a secret meeting that agreed them.
The meeting of itself, attended by five councillors, was also unlawfully held because it was not publicised beforehand.
The misconduct charge had alleged 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”.
The three, who were due to stand trial next month, will now face an internal disciplinary process to find out if they are to return to their jobs.
A spokeswoman for Caerphilly County Borough Council said: “We have received confirmation this afternoon that the charges against the three senior offices have been dropped. The three officers will remain suspended while the council now deals with matter in accordance with its own procedures.”
The Ministry of Justice said it would not comment.
A CPS spokesman said: “The court today acceded to a defence application to dismiss the case against all three defendants and we respect that decision.
“This was a complicated, wide-reaching and lengthy investigation into serious allegations against council employees. The investigation was conducted by Avon and Somerset Constabulary at the request of Gwent Constabulary.
“CPS South West’s Complex Casework Unit took the decision to charge the three defendants following extensive consultation with the police. Since that time the prosecution team has pursued the case within the proper judicial process.”
I think the public, particularly the council tax payers of this borough deserve an explanation. This is a total farce which, in my opinion, stems directly from the mindset of senior officers and some councillors that allows council admin staff to command salaries greater than that of the Prime Minister.
One bright prospect, for me, is that come election time in May 2016 voters may be persuaded that voting Labour and Plaid, as they usually do automatically, may not be the best idea and that a fresh start is needed from the only party equipped to deliver one; UKIP.
Oh, your first paragraph is wrong. Have you not heard the reason for salaries so high? CCBC must attract the very best candidates as officers. The £1m pay packages in the world of finance in London don’t count of course, the very best will still want to move to Caerphilly. The argument that the same people who apply for jobs offering £141,000 and £50,000 does not wash with CCBC decision makers.
Remembers, the councillors deciding these pay rises are not old folks who have countless degrees from the world’s greatest universities, 30 years’ experience in the private sector, and an unrivalled commitment to efficiency, oh no, these people have gone to the university of life. These Gods must be listened to for they know best.
Councillors are far too fond of delegating decisions to officers – I have remarked on this many times. This is, again in my humble opinion, because they are intimidated by the qualifications of the council officers.
The same thing happens in national governments. ‘Yes Minister’, where civil servant Sir Humphrey Appleby ran rings around Jim Hacker, the elected representative, was once described by Margaret Thatcher as uncomfortably accurate.
Until councillors are, as a body, prepared to challenge council officers we will continue to suffer expensive (to the taxpayer) scandals such as the Icelandic Banks fiasco and Chief Officer’s pay scandal.
There is no easy solution to this as prospective councillors, like prospective AMs, MPs and MEPs are chosen mainly on their loyalty to party, physical appearance, gender, where they live and several other qualities ranked above their ability to perform well in the job. This is a by-product of democracy where winning the election is all. No easy answer, though I hope that recent events may persuade councillors to scrutinise council officer recommendations more closely and this scrutiny is made available to the public. Also let’s put an end to secret remuneration panels and record all councillor votes.
Officers of the Council quite often, particularly in planning issues,
regenetation roles, events organisation, and in some of the `statutory`
legal obligations placed on local authorities by UK law, are
`Deligated` the power to make decisions which in the main go
unchallenged by the public or by elected Councillors, it is also a fact
that some of the more public facing ward Councillors will have been
consulted, in secret, by officers before those officers make decisions
in the wards effected, the public, by in large remain in the dark
because of the slick system established by officers to overcome the need
for real consultation with the communities effected by `their`
decisions.
This causes the elected authority members to act in a
`reactive` way rather be proactive on questionable decisions taken by
officers, this in turn causes the public to ` blame` elected members for
some of the more ` curious` decisions made from time to time, when such
decisions have not even crossed the desk of elected Council members,
this means Councillors have to embark on the road to try to polically
justify what their officers have done, to the electorate, and such a
process often brings elected members into conflict with ratepayers and
the communities they serve,
So, to echo at least some of
Councillor Richard Williams Comments, Until councillors are, as a body,
prepared to challenge council officers on a day to day basis in the work
place, ans before some of the more stupid unacceptable impositions are
caused to residents, we will continue to see silly, stupid and
unacceptable decisions made. day by day by officers of the Council.
It
also needs to be made clear that the officers who have this `authority`
to make decisions are few and far between, probably countable on two
hands, so it makes the situation all the more serious that such
authority is held by so few. Only proactivity by elected members can
alter this situation.
This decision by a Judge is all it takes to demonstrate that these three
men are, and always were, NOT GUILTY of any criminal offences, it also
legally exonerates those Labour Councillors who sat on the Sub Committee
which agreed the huge pay hikes to senior officers.
As I understand it only One Councillor on this sub committee sought to dismiss himself from the sub committee decisions, and created the spectre of wrongdoing. A perfectly reasonable position to take if you are right, but, a somewhat difficult position to justify now.
Now the fun starts, forget the Council getting compensation from the CPS or The Justice Minister, or the Wales Audit Office, or Uncle Tom Cobbly, that will not happen. Families up and down the Valley, from every street and avenue, have stood the huge bills for this debacle for the last few years, and now it
remains to be seen what the bill from here on will be, compensation for
lost reputations?, X 3, compensation for the stress and anxiety caused
by the actions of an employer? X 3 not to mention the same to the
families of the wrongly charged, X ?, defence legal costs and fees, X 3,
etc etc, and, if the employers are so minded, to allow these three
people to continue employment with the Council, an the huge salary
subject these erroneous charges the mind boggles, but as sure as night
follows day the Ratepayers will pick up the tab.
Trevor – if there was an ‘utter claptrap’ prize you’d win hands down.
Thank you
Disconcerting to read such comment from an employee of the CCBC?
No doubt Mr O’Sullivan, Mr Perkins and Mr Barnett will now be seeking handsome compensation payments for the stress, trauma and damage this has caused them……yet more massive council tax increases to come then, high time these fools were voted out.
What a joke. Keith Reynolds has the bare face cheek to critise the CPS when his LABOUR group thought it was morally right, regardless of legality, to award those pay rises. There are stag flooding their jobs, services being cut, all blamed on the Tories yet he hides behind the ‘spokesman’
An utter disgrace. You are bit fit or worthy of holding office
Let us not forget that the pay structure decided by this murky remuneration panel, despite all subsequent events, is still in force.
Sadly that is Caerphilly Council for you, The sooner the Welsh assembly combine the Councils the better, Caerphilly council and its Cllr’s are a absolute joke..Can’t wait until next year’s TAX INCREASE..
have you seen the poster doing the rounds about budget cuts 2015/2016 they got a cheek after this fiasco, feel free to give them your views:
http://www.caerphilly.gov.uk/My-Council/Performance,-budgets-and-spending/Draft-savings-proposals-2015-16