Century Wharf, an invoice, and Mark James, again...

Good piece over on Jac o'the North's latest blog post on former Carmarthenshire chief executive and Private Eye's Shit of the Year 2016, Mark James, do have a read.

Jac provides a brief summary of some of the highlights of the dictator's reign at the council and, of course, his 'interests' elsewhere, none of which he bothered to declare when running the council.

You'll recall his failure to declare bugger all when being illegally bankrolled by the taxpayer for his legal fees, or his shadowy involvement in the now torpedoed Kuwait venture, or his companies in Cardiff, or his property portfolio, which I narrowly avoid joining every month by scratching together the 'gutter money' to put in his wallet...

Anyway, Jac focuses again on Mr James' property management dealings in Cardiff at the Century Wharf development. You may recall various posts from a couple of years ago. It seems that some residents are still taking a very close look at our Mr James, and so they should, and it's not an easy task as he abolished AGMs for the Right To Manage company he runs shortly after taking control. No surprises there.

They were, however, surprised to see that their phone services were provided by an unknown company in far-flung Llangennech called ETS Ltd. A brief look at Companies House shows us that, according to the last accounts, it was barely functioning, and, as Jac points out, there's a puzzling issue over the VAT registration number (see also the interesting comment from 'Brychan') All a bit odd until you see who runs ETS, it's one of Mr James' old friends, Mr Robert Lovering.
It's such a small world...

Going back a few years, around 2009, the MOD were selling their old site in Llangennech. Just before it went to auction Mr James decided to help out his friends Lovering and business partner and rugby bloke David Pickering by arranging for the council (never a problem for Mr James) to snap it up, and immediately selling it on to the businessmen.
Councillors were not told who was benefiting from this deal, only that they needn't worry as they were 'known to officers'. They certainly were.

He not only made sure they had a great bargain but then arranged a £281,000 grant to refurbish a couple of the buildings. My most recent post on the subject was in 2017 here. Cneifiwr's detailed piece from 2014 is here.

I guess if you wield power through intimidation and threats, and abolish all pretence at democracy, whether in business or public service, you can make these little arrangements, or, for that matter, destroy your critics.
Another word for it is corruption.

Lovering and Pickering, are also directors of Hydro Industries based in Llangennech, a water tech company. Expenses claim sheets show several unexplained trips made by Mr James to the Llangennech offices in late 2017 early 2018, a few weeks before both him and Marc Clement were publicly welcoming the company to the, erm, 'opportunities' presented by the City Deal and the Wellness Village...

The curious generosity shown by Mr James to another rugby entity, Scarlets Regional Ltd, is well documented on this blog.and one incident in particular is worth repeating as it shows just one example of what he was, and is, capable of if any of those Century Wharf residents happen to land on this blog. For the avoidance of doubt one could also add lying to the council, the court, the police and the press to his extensive portfolio.

To cut a long story short, with mounting debts, the rugby club wanted to sell a 'surplus' car park to Marstons Inns but Scarlets Regional Ltd were leaseholders, the council owned the land.

The recommendation, from the Council's former Director of Finance was, in no uncertain terms, for a 50/50 split of the £850,000 proceeds, possibly even erring in favour of the council.

Mr James was having none of it. His rugby business cronies had a third party debt that needed repaying and he was determined to help them out. At the last minute he made damn sure the company had an extra £200k out of the deal, shamelessly shortchanging the taxpayer.

Incidentally I finally got to the bottom of this crooked deal when Mr James was on 'gardening leave' during his previous encounter with plod in 2014. Possibly thinking that he wasn't coming back, the council released, under FOI, some very interesting emails which set out this sorry saga and the contempt James had for close colleagues, let alone the public.

Century Wharf residents, or even anyone thinking of using the services of Ffynnon Consultancy, might want to go even further back and read what he got up to in Boston... It might help explain his modus operandi.
He also quietly changed the council's Constitution to illegally use public money to sue for libel, establishing his very own slush fund, something the residents may want to watch out for...

The Century Wharf residents who complained a couple of years ago, and committed the gravest of sins by not only criticising him but contacting the press to boot, were described by the charming Mr James as a 'cancer'. Funnily enough, one of their concerns at the time, apart from the vomit in the corridors, was the bullying tactics of Mr James as Chair of the Board to silence dissent, and the suspicion he was creating his own companies, or through his acquaintances, to benefit from work at Century Wharf.

If anyone riddled Carmarthenshire Council with disease and corruption it was Mr James himself, and extended it to everything he touched, the legal department, recruitment and press office in particular spring to mind.
The City Deal, and particularity the Wellness scandal and the shady Kuwait deal were his parting shots. The sorry saga is documented throughout this blog, including using his own personal lawyers, Acuity Law, to 'clear' his and the council tracks.
He'd already trashed the reputation of the council with his illegal indemnity and tax avoidance scandals and this was the icing on the cake.

Left; Prof Marc Clement, sacked for gross misconduct, and Right; Mark James, raided by the police over the Wellness scandal

He nearly brought the Deal to its knees by attempting to extend his dictatorship, through plain old dishonesty and self-interest to a bigger, and possibly wiser audience who, in the end, were having none of it.
I have no doubt that the only pockets Mark James was interested in was his own, and those of his like-minded friends. As we know, thanks to the determination of Swansea University, and no thanks to the impotence of carmarthenshire council, the police became involved in the Wellness scandal, with raids last year on several homes, including that of Mr James. County Hall was also searched, for deleted data.
As far as I know, the criminal investigation continues.

Mr James managed to control Carmarthenshire Council through fear, dishonesty and manipulation, to the extent that they allowed this crook, and thoroughly nasty piece of work to trample on democracy, funnel away precious funds and bully, threaten and terrorise staff and Members for seventeen years.

Century Wharf residents, take note.

Later post; October 2020; Century Wharf - a forged signature and the cladding scandal 

News in brief...and remote meetings underway - updated

The council finally managed to organise a remote Executive Board meeting which was held yesterday, and a full council meeting looks set for the 10th June. Despite the calibre of the attendees, yesterday's gathering appeared to go relatively smoothly.

The archived meeting can be viewed on the council website

The agenda included a brief list of officer decisions from the last few weeks and a short report from the Director of Social Care.
The meeting lasted about half an hour and according to the chief executive, decisions will now be taken democratically rather than by officers alone..or what passes for democracy here anyway...

Despite two months of lockdown and such a radical change to everyone's life there were no questions tabled from non-executive nor opposition councillors  - one doesn't expect robust debate at this time, nor unhelpful political posturing but mild curiosity as to present and future plans may have been in order, for the benefit of residents. Maybe next week.

Incidentally I noticed the viewing figures hovered around 25, if you discount me and a couple of reporters, and all those present, on and offline, it doesn't leave many more. So unless there is a different way of observing the meeting (and I'm happy to be corrected) it's unclear whether any of the remaining 65 or so councillors bothered tuning in.

There was the obligatory thanks to the management, once Emlyn Dole had remembered, and of course well-deserved thank you to frontline council staff, although an offer of a decent pay rise would be a little more helpful.

Unless the council is guilty of some sort of glaring cock-up over its response to the ongoing pandemic, which we don't know about yet, and given that they're acting largely from government directives, this blog is, of course, concerned with other matters. However, the top brass of local authorities will come under the spotlight of scrutiny at some point; as we have seen with the valiant and often fruitless attempts by the press to hold Welsh and UK governments to account on a daily basis. This is a very difficult, and fast moving time but local decisions are equally important, as is full transparency.

With regards to track and trace, which started on 1st June, it is understood that as of the 28th May only the Infection Control Manager has been appointed, the council has yet to arrange the redeployment of 100 staff to track and trace. The council have also refused, so far, to offer face masks to highways staff who are concerned about the risk of infection in, for example, the cab of a lorry.

Despite the financial impact to the council due to the virus, £11.4m in extra costs and lost income and rising, I did note that they'd managed to spend £150k on surveys for 'Pentre Awel City Deal', this refers to the scandal-ridden Wellness Village. The surveys perhaps relate to the families of otters inconveniently residing on this 'prime location', or the depths of the toxic contamination, something like that, there was little detail.

You may recall that due to the "negative" (ie 'honest) coverage of the scandal project, a £25k+ 'rebrand' was commissioned in the hope that potential investors would be muddled into thinking this was an entirely different thing, so the Wellness Village has now, it seems, become 'Pentre Awel'.
It needs a rethink not a rebrand.
I asked the City Deal twitter account if any new 'partners' had actually signed up to the Wellness Village yet. There was no reply.

Incidentally the 'Mixed market/social housing' plan for the project has now been replaced with 'Executive housing development with an element of affordable housing', an interesting shift of emphasis.

What no one needs right now, or in the years to come, apart perhaps from the council's friends and favourite consultancy firms, is a speculative project mired in controversy hoping to tap into global wellness tourism and private healthcare on the Llanelli Riviera.

I have said much about this vanity project and the associated scandal on this blog and indeed, the criminal investigation into suspected bribery continues following the search warrants executed last year.

Back in April the former Vice Chancellor of Swansea University Richard Davies had his appeal against dismissal for gross misconduct rejected. Professor Marc Clement's appeal was rejected earlier this year. Employment tribunals have been stayed until after the police investigation.
This all relates to the City Deal Wellness Village scandal in Llanelli, and the private hospital scandal in Kuwait, and all involve the former chief executive of Carmarthenshire Council.
There is extensive background on this blog, going back a number of years, and my most recent significant post on the subject was in February, here.

The 'Wellness deal' 2018 currently under police investigation.
L to R; Phyllis Dickmann, Mark James, Ex-V C Richard Davies, Emlyn Dole, Franz Dickmann, Prof Marc Clement

Whether Hywel Dda Health Board are still as enthusiastic about 'partnering' the scheme seems unlikely, they were never keen about ploughing money into it in the first place. Not that they had any, and neither does the council.

The Health Board has a very different set of priorities now and so should the council, the latter already owes £413m without the requirement to borrow more £mms upfront for this bizarre scheme, or counting the cost of the pandemic (for which another £20m was borrowed by the finance chief..and let's hope that's not squiffed elsewhere) which will play out for years to come. Years of borrowing to fund Mark James' various vanity projects are already costing the taxpayer £20m a year in interest.

In other news, Jonathan Edwards MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr may was arrested at his home for suspicion of assault a couple of weeks ago. He has been suspended from Plaid Cymru pending the outcome of the investigation, but will still sit as an independent. The BBC reported the incident here.

Towards the end of April the thorny issue of libel indemnities was due to be discussed by 'CRWG'. I have to assume that this meeting was cancelled. Why it's even being discussed and not knocked out of the field is staggering. But in order to carry on protecting the former chief executive and his chief legal defender, Linda Rees Jones, the charade continues; it's continued for six years now ever since the offending clause was 'suspended' after the WAO declared Mark James' taxpayer funded indemnity unlawful.
I will of course be returning to that entire issue in due course.
The fight goes on...

Update 3rd June;
The agenda for next week's remote Council AGM has been published and consists of the usual divvying up of a couple of lucrative Committee Chairs and the apparently urgent requirement for all councillors to have their allotted pay rise. Business as usual.
In fact, Covid-19 has served a useful purpose in limiting the Annual Tweaking of the Constitution to this pay rise and nothing else, such as the removal of awkward libel clauses.  The dire spectacle of Emlyn Dole's annual Leader's report is also something to look forward to...with a mention, no doubt, that the very exciting Wellness Thing (or Pentre Awel Thing) is imminent, as it has been for the past four years.
We can also look forward to Chairman Kevin Madge's farewell mumble but, thankfully, this time we'll be spared the emotional exchange of the glittering chains of office.
If any councillors do manage to muster up a vaguely searching question on the day (none have been tabled), about pandemics or otherwise, these will, of course, be treated as an attack rather than scrutiny.

Update 10th June;
The AGM was no different to usual, (apart from it being remote), consisting mainly of a lengthy round of virtual back-slapping and jolly Chain-swapping between veteran councillors.

The 'voting' for the new Chair and Vice Chair was, as usual, completely superfluous, even more so this time as the Civic Regalia had already been delivered to the new recipients...
Interesting that they have no time to respond to FOI requests yet can arrange delivery of the County Hall bling across the county.

Same bland nonsense accompanied the Leader's Annual Report, although opposition leader Rob James did suggest that some of the capital projects might need revisiting, maybe he had the Wellness Thing (oops, 'Pentre Awel') in mind...he was also the only one, I believe, to express his condolences to the family and friends of those who had died from the virus.

Personally I was astonished that the Reverend Dole's Annual Report forgot to mention the significant events of last July which saw County Hall, and the homes of the former CEO Mark James, and former leader Meryl Gravell raided by the organised crime squad.
Must have slipped his mind.

Homelessness grant failure, and CRWG to discuss the unlawful libel clause

As this blog has reported over the years the council's management of grants has often left a lot to be desired. Back in 2015, internal audit exposed a catalogue of failure in delivering the Supporting People grant and despite lessons apparently having been learnt, it seems that things have hardly improved.

An internal audit report for next Friday's Audit committee shows a similar catalogues of failure in administering and delivering the Homelessness Prevention Grant. The grant for 2018/19 was for £170,000.

Out of the samples tested (which suggest the true picture could well be worse) documentation was incomplete or missing, there were no document 'checklists' and signed claim forms were non-existent and, furthermore, the accounts didn't add up properly.
The ordering of goods was sometimes deemed inappropriate and non-compliant with the council's Financial Procedure Rules

A 'fundamental weakness' was identified (again this was only through sampling of two invoices ) where a total of £18,000 had been spent on carpets and furniture through the 'Home Ready Furniture Scheme'.
The clients name, the description of items, the details of actual goods delivered were all missing from the invoices and no one had any idea what had been delivered to what address.
No one could even verify whether the purchases were within the eligibility period.

Additionally, there was a failure to comply with the council's Contract Procurement Rules as there was no evidence that suppliers had been through the proper evaluation and award process (value for money).

A 'fundamental weakness' in general audit terms indicates a 'high risk of fraud and negligence', so we can only hope that the right people ended up with £18,000 worth of new furniture and carpets...

Naturally, the Audit Committee are being told that everything is now fine, urgent action was taken, and lessons have been learned....until the next time anyway.

-----------------------------------------------------

In the long running saga of unlawful libel indemnity clauses, the head of legal/Monitoring Officer Linda Rees Jones informs me that the next meeting of CRWG (Constitutional Review Working Group) will be on the 23rd April, (virus permitting).

I have been enquiring as to when she was going to allow elected members to discuss the Auditor General's rejection of the attempts by Mark James, Emlyn Dole and herself, to reinstate the offending clause almost two years ago. 

As regular readers will know, the illegal clause has been 'suspended' for the past six years but, dangerously, not removed completely.

I am presuming that the 23rd April will be the date of discussion.

As CRWG is not a constituted committee its meetings are, conveniently, held behind closed doors and the agendas and reports are not published. It makes 'recommendations' to the Executive Board. 

I have asked Ms Rees Jones (a big fan of libel indemnities and an even bigger fan of disgraced former CEO Mark James) for copies of the papers in advance of the meeting. I somehow doubt that such transparency will be forthcoming.

Either they will finally see sense and remove the provision to sue completely, or leave it in its ridiculous state of suspension, or reinstate. 

The latter would require a decision of full council so unless they have the stomach for illegally diverting funds from public services to silence critics again, I doubt that would happen. Though you never know...Ms Rees Jones seems to think a slush fund is great idea, as of course did Mr James...

This saga follows on from the illegal libel indemnity pocketed by Mr James in 2012. The more recent developments (aside from Emlyn Dole's refusal to ask James to repay the money, and the tax avoidance cash before he retired) follow on from the CRWG meeting held in July 2018;

July 2018 Plaid Cymru seek to reinstate unlawful libel clause

August 2018 Unlawful libel indemnity clause - part two
February 2019 CRWG minutes - let's sue everyone
August 2019 Libel indemnities - Auditor General says NO
December 2019 Libel indemnities - Auditor General says NO again

PS. The organised crime squad investigation into alleged bribery surrounding the Wellness scandal continues and the police are still examining the documents and equipment seized on the 31st July. Given that the homes of Mark James, Meryl Gravell and County Hall were included in the search warrants I will update this blog as soon as I hear more. And provide comment, whatever the outcome.


Update 18th March; All council meetings have been suspended for the foreseeable future apart from the Executive Board.
As there will be no scrutiny meetings and therefore no scrutiny of executive/officer decisions, we'll have to trust that nothing untoward slips under the democratic radar.
There was precious little scrutiny to start with.

All schools will close on Friday 20th March.

Inappropriate comments and musical Chairs

The crass and insensitive remarks made by Labour Cllr Kevin Madge over an application for a care home to house three vulnerable children serves as a reminder of the calibre of some of our elected members.

According to Cllr Madge, who opposed the application, "They are not normal children so there will be a lot of screaming going on"

Kevin Madge

The inevitable outcry ensued followed by an 'apology'; "It was poor choice of words, which I regret however I have genuine concerns which is what I wanted to get across at the meeting. I will not be making any further comment on this matter.", a statement concocted for poor Kev by the County Hall Department for Non-Apologies.

He made the remarks as a member of the Planning Committee and clearly Cllr Madge's understanding of what constitutes a material planning consideration leaves much to be desired, let alone his attitude towards vulnerable children.
If this wasn't bad enough, it is also Cllr Madge's turn to be Chair of Carmarthenshire Council.

He graced this week's meeting of full council by sharing the sad news that one of his favourite hens had died that morning. It was all the rain, he said, something to do with climate change, he thought.

Still, at least he cares about his vulnerable hens.

It was my observations at council meetings, of the sometimes bizarre and often ignorant comments from some elected members which prompted me to campaign for webcasting and filming. Sometimes I wish I hadn't, I almost feel embarrassed for them sometimes...

The Chair of the Council is a position which is supposed to command respect. It is not a political role, unlike the Leader, and the Chair spends his or her year visiting school events, 100th birthdays, a charity bash or two, and generally being ferried around in a chauffeur driven car, fully chained, being the 'Face of the Council'.

You would think that it would be sensible to ensure that the Chair has some sort of ability for the role and is selected, and, more importantly, elected, by the full council. Unfortunately this isn't the case. Each political group takes it in turns each to propose the Chair, and the Vice Chair, with a superfluous show of hands. The latter, as night follows day, always becomes Chair the following year.

Ability for the role doesn't come into it, some are better than others but this is simply by chance rather than design, as is so apparent in this instance. This particular idiot saw the honour as the pinnacle of his political career. Probably a bit higher up the greasy pole than his lengthy and catastrophic involvement in Mark James' unlawful payments fiasco mind you.
As the then Labour Leader of the Council, it was an unedifying spectacle watching Madge try and justify Mr James' tax avoidance scam, let alone the plundering of public cash to sue, which he endorsed.

Kevin Madge 2014

In all seriousness there are several flaws with this archaic arrangement. For one, an unaffiliated independent councillor (not part of the 'Independent Group') would never become Chair, however adept they might be.

Secondly, it is seen as a reward for good behaviour. Councillors from any group who choose to rock the County Hall boat are unlikely ever to be sporting the polished Chains of Office.

Thirdly, it gives the chief executive full control over full council meetings, prompting and 'advising' the chair to such a degree you can almost see the former's hand moving the latter's mouth. A particular problem when the chief executive happens to be a psychotic control freak.

This was painfully evident of course during the tenure of the former chief executive. A read back through the council reports on this blog will highlight some fine examples. Painful might also be the operative word and it is said that one former Chair recalled Mr James kicking her shins when a more outspoken councillor had the floor, and patting her leg when she had successfully silenced the dissenting voice to his satisfaction.

Not sure if the male Chairs enjoyed such attention, or whether new CEO Wendy Walters deploys the same tactic on the legs of Kevin Madge...

As we are now in the 21st century and the council is supposed to be at the cutting edge of modern democracy is it now time to end this merry-go-round of musical Chairs? Select and elect candidates on ability and merit? Or even scrap the ceremonial role, with it's chauffeur driven trips to Civic Teas and Services the length and breadth of Wales, completely?

WalesOnline; Councillor apologises after calling care home kids 'not normal' 

Wellness scandal - Swansea University statement - sticking to its guns

Swansea University have released a little more detail and background to the sackings and disciplinary proceedings relating to the Wellness village/Kuwait scandal.

As the police investigation into alleged bribery and corruption is ongoing, and employment tribunals are on the horizon there is still little flesh on the bones. However, despite the continued denials by some of those involved, the university remains steadfast in its position and no doubt the full story will emerge eventually.

As for the police investigation, the regional organised crime squad, Tarian, have issued the following statement via South Wales Police;
"Eight people have been interviewed as suspects, all of whom remain under investigation. Further enquiries as part of this complex investigation are ongoing. Extensive examination of a significant number of seized documents and electronic equipment also continues."

You will recall that documents and electronic equipment were not just seized from the university staff, and a certain address in Kent, but also from the homes of former CEO Mark James and former council leader Meryl Gravell, and from the server room at County Hall.

Here's the University's statement, from a report by WalesOnline;

"As there have previously been inaccurate reports regarding these serious matters, the university is issuing this brief statement.

"In September 2018, the university investigated a payment that had been made to Raymond Ciborowski (the university’s former registrar) upon the termination of his employment.

"This investigation found that the agreement governing the termination of Raymond Ciborowski’s employment as registrar contained irregular and inappropriate provisions.

"After these findings were presented to Raymond Ciborowski on 27 September 2018, he resigned from his part-time position with the University as a special adviser.

"Following his resignation, further evidence was discovered that indicated Raymond Ciborowski and other employees of the university had significant undeclared interests and stood to make financial gains in a personal capacity from the university’s participation in commercial projects with which they were involved as university employees.

"These gains included salaries from future appointments and equity potentially worth millions of pounds. The evidence suggested that there were material and serious interests that should have been declared under the university’s policies and procedures.

"As a result of these discoveries, the university informed its auditors and instructed expert external legal advisers to carry out an investigation.

"A leading employment law barrister, with no previous connection to the university, was appointed as investigation manager to conduct a disciplinary investigation.

"Following a thorough investigation, which included multiple interviews with the suspended individuals and the review of a substantial number of documents, the investigation manager delivered a report to the university in May 2019 recommending that there was evidence of gross misconduct."

To add a little more background, an earlier WalesOnline article, dated January 2019 (and covered on this blog) reported that Mr Ciborowski had been offered employment, discounted homes and shares by Kent-based Mr Franz Dickmann. This allegation of, shall we say, inducements, appears to have been made by the now sacked vice-chancellor Richard Davies in a 'leaked' grievance letter.

Obviously, my interest in all this, and the extensive coverage on this blog over the past few years, centres around the involvement in this scandal of former CEO Mark James, or should I say his curious determination to appoint the Dickmann clan. Also of interest is the involvement of the leadership of the Council, and not forgetting the role of the council's notorious legal department led by Linda Rees Jones.

She was stripped of the role of City Deal Monitoring Officer following the damning internal audit last year and of course Mark James hastily retired just as the s**t was beginning to hit the fan. The position of City Deal Lead was subsequently deleted, a convenient and cheaper alternative than sacking him. Carmarthenshire, unsurprisingly, lost the audit and democratic responsibility within the City Deal.
It remains to be seen who else at the council knew more than they've been letting on.

Prior to his retirement Mr James had, without a shred of conscience nor a whisper of a declaration of interest, brought in his own personal solicitors Acuity Law to give the council a 'clean bill of health' over the tender process for the Wellness Village. Everything that had been, shall we say, shady, was, of course perfectly fine, just a little, erm, 'unusual'.
A FOI response last November revealed that their advice over the initial procurement cast further doubt on their claim to have been 'independent'.
However, Mr James' true motive in commissioning Acuity Law was to give himself a pre-emptive defence.

Also prior to his departure was the damning letter from the former City Deal colleague and Chair of the Swansea Bay Health Board, Andrew Davies who accused Mark James of having flagrant disregard to any of the seven Nolan Principles of public life and being, in so many words, a compulsive liar. Though I have to say this wasn't a revelation for many of us...
Mark James's career ended with a flurry of legal threats which, it seems, came to nothing as he'd have had to pay for it out of his own pocket this time, rather than yours.

One of the key characters in this fiasco, along with Mark and Marc, was Franz Dickmann.
It was Dickmann's company, Kent Neurosciences who landed the council's initial, behind-closed-doors 'exclusivity agreement' to develop the Wellness village, clearly on the recommendation, instruction and insistence of Mark James and Marc Clement. This was despite the company having no track record other than the development of a private hospital in Kent which, before the Dickmann's scarpered, required a £20m bail-out.

Kent Neurosciences went pop within a year with a deficit of £128k and the 'agreement' wasn't renewed. However, after an 'robust and extensive' tendering exercise to find a new developer, lo and behold, Sterling Health were appointed, who, surprise surprise, consisted of the Dickmann clan again, this time with Meryl Gravell on the Board.

They were the only bidder and, at the time, were £137k in the red. Not only were they going to develop the site, apparently, but family members in the various companies were lined up to run other aspects of the project, including the management consultancy (Dickmann Jnr) and a private creche.

What was, and remains interesting, was the determination by Mark James to appoint Franz Dickmann's and his companies (all now dissolved) in this key role, not once but twice, despite the obvious lack of evidence that they could deliver. Almost as if he didn't care about that bit, and indeed, some senior council officers were beginning to doubt the viability of Sterling before the University, inconveniently for Mr James, exposed the allegations currently being investigated.

Early last year Mr Dickmann popped up in yet another murky scandal along with our Mr James and his friends at the Uni with the revelations over the proposed private hospital in Kuwait, (see Mark of Arabia here - worth a read for even more background). To keep it all in the family, Mr James had been made a trustee, something he failed to register in his official declaration of interests. Rather like his business empire in Cardiff.
The Kuwait venture was subsequently referred to the authorities, by the University, as part of this whole investigation.

The full details will hopefully emerge in the weeks and months to come, whatever the outcome of the complex police investigation.

L to R; Mrs Dickmann, Mark James, ex V-C Richard Davies,
Emlyn Dole, Franz Dickmann, Marc Clement

PS. Nearly forgot to add that the Rev Dole will be jetting off in March for a four day jolly to the annual MIPIM property show in Cannes. Swansea Council leader Rob Stewart and various City Deal high-rollers are also destined for the French Riviera with the City Deal budget coughing up £10,000.
However, Emlyn's hotel and flights will be paid for by the long suffering taxpayers of Carmarthenshire.
And given this splendid account of the event from a few years back, the Wellness scandal and the ongoing police investigation might just fit right in!

PPS Apparently the MIPIM beano has been postponed due to the coronavirus thing, such a shame Emlyn won't be going just yet...


Aside from the links in this post there is extensive background information on all this, the City Deal and the wellness scandal on this blog, if you wish to search.

Rotten Boroughs Awards 2019 - Order of the Brown Nose!

Despite his timely and hurried retirement it is pleasing to see that Mark James once again graces the pages of Private Eye. 

The eagerly awaited Rotten Boroughs New Year Honours in the latest edition gives the prestigious Order of the Brown Nose to former council press officer Ron Cant for his oozing tribute to the 'visionary man of steel'...

Private Eye issue 1513, Jan 2020

This potential nomination for Mr Cant first emerged back in April and was posted on this blog, along with a handy list of the numerous accolades and Honours bestowed on Mr James and his rotten borough by the Eye over recent years.

Another contender for the OBN Honour was surely Plaid council leader Emlyn Dole whose obsequious, fawning tribute to the retiring chief executive in May surpassed even Mr Cant's efforts to elevate Mr James to sainthood. Observers of that council meeting, who managed to hold back the nausea, even detected tears in the Reverend Dole's eyes...
The Herald's columnist Cadno was one of those observers...

Surpassing both, of course, was Mr James own extraordinary tribute to himself; a speech resplendent in grotesque self-praise, narcissism and toe-curling conceit, which ended with an attack on the press and those pesky bloggers. It was an attack to which I replied...

I had already posted my own tribute to Mr James when he announced his retirement back in January...and again in April...a little more accurate than Mr Cant's version...

Meanwhile, as the Eye reminds us, we await the outcome of the police investigation, and whatever the future might hold for the Shit of the Year 2016...

Libel indemnities - Auditor General says NO, again!

As readers will know, the Wales Audit Office, and the Auditor General have said NO! to libel indemnities numerous times. The first occasion being the 2014 Public Interest Report ruling the bankrolling of Mark James counterclaim for libel against me by the unsuspecting taxpayer as unlawful.

After another comprehensive rejection in May 2019, the AG's final response (in full below), a few weeks ago, should be the nail in the coffin.

Here's some background;
The 2014 public report led to the clause in the council's constitution allowing such unlawful funding being suspended, but it was not removed.

The prohibition of these libel indemnities was made crystal clear in the Local Authorities (Indemnities for Members and Officers) (Wales) Order 2006. (3) being the relevant part;

Click to enlarge

Since 2014 various failed attempts to overturn the ruling have been made by Mark James and Linda Rees Jones and whichever puppet leader was in place at the time. Since June 2015 that's been Plaid Cymru's Emlyn Dole. At least one attempt was made to question the qualifications of the then Appointed Auditor to make such a ruling.

The latest round of this saga has been the astonishing attempt by James, Rees-Jones and Dole to reinstate the clause and to extend it to cover councillors. They are, in essence, proposing to expose the taxpayers to massive financial risk, the exorbitant cost of a Judicial Review and sustain the chilling effect on democracy.

This came about at a meeting of the Constitutional Review Working Group (CRWG) back in July 2018. Plaid Cymru (by now they were three years into their deal with the devil...) were very keen to reinstate the clause and, of course, clear the names of Mark and Legal Linda. It was decided however, and before they did anything rash, that they better seek the opinion of the Auditor General, Adrian Crompton.

Anyhow, nothing moves very quickly in local government, so six months later Linda Rees Jones wrote a lengthy begging letter to the AG, this letter was disclosed to me by the Wales Audit Office.

In May of this year, after seeking external legal advice, the AG replied, soundly rejecting the arguments put forward by Rees-Jones and warning them of his powers to launch judicial review.
That letter can be seen in full here.

Instead of taking the AG's response back to elected members, as promised, Ms Rees-Jones under the instruction of the then employed Mark James, wrote back to the AG in a last ditch attempt to change his mind. This time she added a veiled threat to go back to the Welsh Government with a view to override his opinion. That letter can be seen here.

To bring us bang up to date, the AG responded on the 29th November.

It was another shattering rejection, and this latest letter, disclosed by the Auditor General under FOI, can be read in full here;

click to enlarge

Without going into the finer legal points (all of which are on this blog, here there and everywhere), the AG has succinctly rejected their entire argument, and on multiple occasions.

It now remains to be seen if Ms Rees Jones will admit liability and allow councillors to remove the clause completely or will she carry out her threat (along with Mark James, lurking somewhere) and try and appeal to the Welsh Government to save their skins. At continuing great expense of course.

Interestingly, the AG has also taken the time to have a look at the 2014 Minister's letter referred to by Rees Jones. At the time, many observers, and significantly the Plaid opposition councillors, were amazed by Mark and Linda's deliberately twisted interpretation of the letter. A child could see through it. 

Far from giving them free rein to carry on suing with public money, as the two of them claimed, it did nothing of the sort. The First Minister had confirmed the Welsh Government's stance that the indemnity was unlawful the day before the meeting.

Surely this latest confirmation from the Auditor General marks the end of the road for Carmarthenshire Council and its unique and illegal approach to libel indemnities.

And incidentally, you'll note that Chris Moore, the council's chief finance officer is also a signatory in the correspondence. Under the illegal indemnity clause he also has the delegated power to instigate libel proceedings. However, wearing his finance hat, he has just recommended £5.2m of cuts to services next year and a 4.89% increase in council tax. But, well, I suppose you've got to find some way of funding slush funds, they don't come cheap...

Ms Rees Jones, and indeed Mark James must admit defeat and accept liability for deliberately misleading councillors, the public, and the High Court. They have both lied and cheated the taxpayer, and James' behaviour has been fraudulent, dishonest malicious and criminal. He has not repaid the illegal indemnity nor, for that matter his unlawful tax avoidance payments. Nor has he been held to account. 

Not yet anyway...

Rees-Jones legal advice in general must be called into question as a large proportion of it has been for the sole purpose of covering-up for the misdemeanours of Mr James. From defending his very own slush fund to undeclared interests and lying to his employers. Had she had a shred of honesty, self-respect or professionalism Mr James may not have got away with his shameful, vindictive and illegal behaviour. 

That's without the fact that he managed, almost single-handed, to destabilise and all but destroy the Swansea Bay City Deal. See, for instance, this post from June. 

We still await the outcome of that criminal investigation.

They both should have been sacked years ago. 

As for the Reverend Emlyn Dole, he should resign, hang his head in shame and crawl back to his chapel and beg for forgiveness. As I said earlier this month, the rotten legacy left by Mark James is nothing for Plaid Cymru to be proud of.

Wellness scandal - bribery investigation - four suspects questioned by police

The organised crime squad Tarian, have said, in a statement issued today, that four people have been questioned as suspects in relation to the alleged bribery investigation over the proposed Wellness Village in Llanelli.

This is the police statement;

"Tarian, the Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU) for southern Wales, is continuing to investigate alleged offences following a complaint by Swansea University in respect of the Llanelli Wellbeing and Life Sciences Village.

"Four people have been interviewed as suspects, all of whom remain under investigation. Further enquiries as part of this complex investigation are ongoing.


"Extensive examination of a significant number of documents and electronic equipment, which were seized earlier this year, also continues."

You will recall that eight addresses were raided by the police at the end of July.

Those addresses included the homes of former CEO Mark James and Meryl Gravell.
County Hall was also raided.

The other addresses were almost certainly those individuals sacked from Swansea University, and the former director of the Council's private 'partner' Sterling Health in Kent.

The investigation relates to alleged bribery and corruption over the tender process for the Wellness Village.

As detailed on this blog, Mark James led and oversaw that very same tender process, which not only involved Sterling but it's previous incarnation as Kent Neurosciences.

The identities of the four suspects who have been questioned so far have not been released. However, as the statement says, the investigation is far from over.

WalesOnline report here

Please search this blog for all the background to the Wellness scandal. Any further updates will appear on this blog.

Plaid Cymru, and the rotten legacy of Mark James

My last post included a published comment warning former CEO Mark James that just because it's quiet, it doesn't mean there isn't a train coming. Quite correct, there will be a train coming, regardless of the outcome of the current police investigation. (Brief update on that here)
If necessary, I'll be driving it.

Mark James spent seventeen years at the council and ran it with all the charm of a psychopath, he was no better in Boston where he allegedly tampered with legal documents, lied under oath and bullied staff. In Carmarthenshire he bullied and threatened any staff, councillors, whistleblowers or members of the public who dared challenge his word. He granted favours and promotion to those who flattered his ego. He used council facilities, including the notoriously incompetent and unscrupulous legal department for his own personal vendettas and shady business deals.

He used the police and courts as a weapon to get his own way and to bully and silence critics. He helped out his 'friends' and acted fraudulently, with the full support of the monitoring officer and whichever puppet administration he'd put in 'power'.

The puppet administrations are to blame for allowing this regime to continue for so long. And to have caused so much damage. It was the idiotic Labour/Independent executive board which bankrolled his illegally funded counterclaim. Kevin Madge, the former Labour leader who rubber stamped the decision, with Mark James leaning over his shoulder, cut a pathetic figure attempting to defend the latter throughout the WAO findings, Madge is now Chair of the Council. This is how loyalty is rewarded in Carmarthenshire.
It remains to be seen what the outcome of the police raid on former leader Meryl Gravell will be.

As for the counterclaim, the 'indemnity' was indeed a slush fund, and 'Pinocchio' has always been a very accurate description. Not least of all the whopping lie about paying damages back to the council. He's pocketing the lot.
If I fail to pay Mark James his monthly 'gutter' money, for evermore apparently, he will sell my home, "without further notice".

Plaid Cymru, in opposition, were vocal in their criticism of the regime, and not just regarding the libel case but everything from bizarre planning decisions to cover-ups in social care, and so there was some hope that they would start serving out some justice when they came to 'power' in 2015. Quite the opposite happened and Emlyn and co were taken into the fold. In a deal for the position as leader, Emlyn 'two barns' Dole bowed to Mark James and reneged on his previous opinion that the indemnity had been unlawful.

With the scene set by Labour, Plaid just carried on with the farce. And still do.

One of his first steps as leader was to place a crippling legal charge on my home for hundreds of thousands of pounds for legal costs. A vindictive decision straight from the mouth of Mark James. A sum I will never be able to pay, and a charge which the judge was reluctant to order. Mark James' own charge on my home, from the unlawfully funded counterclaim, is tens of thousands of pounds.

Plaid Cymru are now, under the guidance of monitoring officer, Linda Rees Jones (and Mark James, this latest attempt started a year before he retired) are now trying their best to change the mind of the Auditor General and reinstate the ability to sue the public with taxpayers' money, and extend it to themselves.

It's scandalous.

As former county councillor Sian Caiach points out in her latest blog post, this is a Plaid Cymru policy they're keeping quiet about.

Throughout all this, Plaid politicians Adam Price AM and Jonathan Edwards MP appear to have recognised the blindingly obvious injustices and, in particular, the arrogance and failures of Mark James. They continue to state their opposition to illegal libel indemnities. They called for Mark James to repay his ill-gotten gains some years ago, this was ignored by Labour at the time. I myself asked Emlyn Dole if he would honour his colleagues request and demand repayment before Mark James retired, he refused to even consider asking him.

Despite their apparent sincerity the Plaid politicians outside the council appear to be powerless to influence their colleagues leading Carmarthenshire. Whether this is by fault or design isn't clear. One assumes they prefer not to rock Plaid's Carmarthenshire boat, or is there a complete disconnect between the external politicians and the merry bunch 'running' the council...not that Emlyn seems particularly merry these days.
The Welsh Labour government have failed to hold this rogue council to account and positively intervene over the many issues which have arisen over the years. At the moment it doesn't look like Plaid Cymru would do any better. Promoting a Welsh justice system, with full human rights implications, needs to start with eliminating injustice in this corner of Wales.

The 'legal adviser' to councillors has, for some years, been Linda Rees Jones, instructed, totally, by Mark James. She owes her permanent position as monitoring officer to Mark James himself who bypassed the proper appointment process in a cosy arrangement and a reward for her unswerving loyalty to covering up his illegal and immoral behaviour. Her legal department was famously described as cavalier and incompetent but it's worse than that, she has deliberately mislead councillors to protect Mark James and herself, and to line his pockets.

Whilst these issues, and others, continue to fester in the corridors of County Hall no amount of gloss and spin can eradicate the foul taste. It won't go away. Any councillors with even a vague sense of justice and empathy will take the bull by the horns themselves, along with MPs and AMs and realise that the continuing rotting legacy of Mark James, and his monitoring officer, needs to be halted once and for all.
He will not get away with it.

They need to right the past wrongs, now, reject the misleading advice, and run the council with that justice, fairness and empathy they pray earnestly for, very publicly, each month.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In Wellness scandal news, in true Carmarthenshire council style, not only have they spent a fortune covering their legal backs with Acuity Law but have employed the services of a large PR company to try and put lipstick on the proverbial pig. Heavenly Group Ltd have been commissioned to 'rebrand' the scandal ridden sauna-by-the-swamp.
With undoubtedly 'difficult' budget cuts fast approaching, I have asked just how much has been spent with Heavenly Ltd.
Response due at the end of the month.

For extensive background to the Wellness Village, City Deal, investigations, etc, please search this blog using the searchbox on the right

The Council and that 'independent' Acuity Law report...continued

Acuity Law, readers will recall, were the law firm which carried out the council's 'independent' review of procurement and governance around the Wellness Village. Their report, which was published in February 2019, was commissioned by the council to give themselves, and more particularly the then chief executive Mark James a 'clean bill of health,' and in fact it was mysteriously leaked to the Western Mail (I'll give you three guesses who was responsible for that).
I wrote about the report here.

It was trumpeted by the council as a wholly 'independent legal review' which 'assessed robustness and compliance around the procurement and governance processes.'

However, the 'independence' of the review was soon questioned given that Acuity Law also represent Mr James on a personal basis, and had done since January 2017.
Acuity Law then made legal threats for defamation against certain 'elected members'.

The governments' Actica review and the damning internal audit review then laid bare the dire state of governance under the leadership of Mark James. This was accompanied by the scathing and entirely accurate letter, directly attacking Mr James' honesty and integrity, from the then Chair of the ABMU health board.

After a flurry of County Hall legal threats, Carmarthenshire was then stripped of the responsibility of democratic governance and audit. Mark James was, it turned out, hurriedly retiring, and Legal Linda was no longer the City Deal monitoring officer.

Along side all this is the bribery and corruption investigations into the Wellness tender with the sackings at Swansea University, the Kuwait scandal and the raids on eight properties on the 31st July by the organised crime squad. Including Mr James' home.

The criminal investigation is still ongoing.

Anyway, as per my previous post, after yet another lengthy wrangle a recent FOI response has revealed another reason to challenge the 'independence' of the Acuity Legal report.

The February 2019 report not only suggests that their involvement was relatively recent, ie late 2018, but also stated;

"Acuity did not advise on the procurement process or on the preparation of the Collaboration Agreement which form the bulk of the subject matter of the review" (my emphasis)

However, an invoice disclosed in the response dates from early 2017 and lists the work undertaken by Acuity for the council.

It includes (my emphasis);

Preparation of a note on procurement timescales;
Preparation of email for discussion regarding procurement;
Reviewing and commenting on a procurement update;
Further email advice on procurement issues, timescales and prior information notices.
Review of background information including the Kent Neurosciences lockout agreement.

Further to this, this particular invoice they either met with, or telephone conferenced, senior council officers seven times, on the 20th, 24th and 31st January 2017 and the 3rd, 7th, 18th and 27th February 2017.
By a remarkable coincidence, the 20th January was the exact same date Acuity Law started representing Mark James against me to force the sale of my home. Hopefully the council didn't muddle up any invoices...

It could certainly be argued that the phrase 'did not advise on the procurement process' is open to interpretation but for the council to claim that this was an 'independent' review is stretching the truth, that's my interpretation anyway.
As I've said before, in my view the report was commissioned by Mr James to provide him with a potential pre-emptive criminal defence. He knew what was coming.
It reminds me of another example of 'independent' legal advice which was the 'independent' advice to the Exec Board in 2012 to unlawfully indemnify Mark James, that happened to come from the council funded lawyer representing Mr James in the libel case.
He has form.


Full response to the Acuity Law FOI here.

A quick update - I'm still here!

After being contacted by numerous people wondering if I'd given up writing the blog I thought I'd better add a quick update and confirm that no, I haven't. The brief lull is due to the highly significant matter of the search warrants executed by the organised crime squad on the 31st July, which included, amongst others, the home of Mark James, recently retired chief executive of Carmarthenshire council.
I am waiting for developments regarding this criminal investigation, and rest assured I will comment in full as soon as I can, whatever the outcome.

Meanwhile, various rumours relating to the investigation are circulating locally, but nothing, so far, has been confirmed by the police, despite my requests for an update.

In fact, no one is saying much about anything. A recent FOI to the council asking what exactly they'd spent £65,000 on with Acuity Law in the first six months of this year (and whatever they spent last year), has yet to be answered.

Despite sending polite chasers, the response is now three weeks late. Acuity Law, you will recall, were the lawyers appointed by Mark James to carry out an 'independent' review of the council's tendering process over the Wellness village, they also happen to be Mark James' personal solicitors.... Essentially they provided him with a publicly funded defence, as it was looking like he might be needing one...

In libel indemnity news, I asked the Monitoring Officer, Linda Rees Jones when, or if, elected members had discussed the letter from the Auditor General for Wales received back in May.

The Auditor General's letter was a sound rejection of Legal Linda's lengthy plea, sent on behalf of Mark James, to reinstate his notorious and unlawful libel clause; to use taxpayers' money to sue the public for defamation. A slush fund if you will. The Auditor General also warned her of his powers to launch a Judicial challenge.

She replied to me last week. No, she said, elected members couldn't discuss it as she was still sending begging letters ("still in dialogue" was the official wording) to the Auditor General to try and change his mind. All quite remarkable. Clearly no councillors are going to get a look-in until he's been swayed.

Whatever else, it shows scant disregard that the council is supposed to be a democratic body, and rides roughshod over the right for elected members to discuss such a significant statement from the head of the independent national audit body for Wales; whether she, and the former chief executive like it or not. It's outrageous.

This is the latest attempt, over the past five years, to change the mind of the Wales Audit Office. From 2015 of course, Mark James and legal Linda have also had the backing of Plaid Cymru's Emlyn Dole, the price he paid for leadership. The Rev Dole also wants to extend the unlawful indemnity to himself and fellow councillors.

Either he, legal Linda and the chief finance officer think that the potential risk of massive losses to the taxpayer, and the threat of Judicial challenge is a great idea. After all, silencing dissent is a much higher priority than a few extra primary school teachers or a social worker or two; Or, Linda and Emlyn are still concerned with protecting the back of a very dodgy, dishonest and disreputable former chief executive and his unlawful payments, and indeed Linda herself with her history of profoundly misleading 'advice' on this matter, and plenty of other matters too.

I have also written to the new chief executive, Wendy Walters asking for her own opinion on the libel indemnity. Maybe, I thought, she has a different view to that of her predecessor. She might have thought it anti-democratic, chilling, illegal, imprudent or immoral, even with her sixteen years at County Hall.
Sadly, three weeks later I've yet to receive an acknowledgement, let alone a reply. Unless she chooses to respond soon I must assume the worst and realise that there's no new broom.

Update 15th October; Ms Walters finally replied yesterday and refused to condemn the indemnity as unlawful and has also ignored the strong words from the Auditor General. However, it is interesting that she considers it a matter for politicians, a message she might wish to pass on to Linda Rees Jones;

"In relation to the matter you raise. I don’t  propose to air any views on this type of indemnity as I regard it as being a matter for the politicians. I am aware there is an on-going debate which will come back to the Constitutional Review Working Group in due course where Members will be able to discuss in full."

It was, of course, discussed in full over five years ago and found to be illegal, at which point both Mark James and legal Linda should have been unceremoniously booted out of office.

But back to the criminal investigation and I hope that the eventual outcome is locked doors and keys throw away. But whatever happens I will, with regards to my own case and the continuing crippling financial nightmare, step up the fight for justice and ensure those responsible, retired or not, are held to account.
I'll do whatever it takes.

Watch this space.

Mark James' home searched in police raid

Carmarthenshire is a large county, but when it comes to news that the police have raided certain addresses in a bribery investigation it becomes remarkably small. By midweek it seemed that the details were countywide.

Anyway, we now know that a search warrant was executed at the Carmarthen home of former council chief executive Mark James early last Wednesday (31st July) by the organised crime squad. 

Mark James - police raid

County Hall, Carmarthen, was raided at the same time. 

A search warrant was also executed at the home of another key figure in the scandal, former Council leader Meryl Gravell

Meryl Gravell - police raid

The searches were part of the investigation into alleged bribery and corruption relating to the proposed Wellness Village at Delta Lakes, Llanelli.

As the police have stated, search warrants were also executed in Swansea and Kent, and they also confirmed that no arrests were made last week. Followers of this blog will be well aware of the Kent connection.

However, documents, computer equipment and, in the case of County Hall, email trails and deleted data were seized.

And not before time, in my opinion.

As regular readers will know, I have tried to unravel the tangled web behind the Wellness scandal for over three years and have set out the facts as I've found them. 

It's all on this blog.

This investigation concerns a public tender, public money and public officials, past and present, therefore, the public have a vested interest and a right to know.

I welcome what is, I hope, a thorough investigation and I'm sure we all await the outcome with interest and anticipation...

Wellness scandal - Mark James back in Private Eye

Further to my previous post on the University sackings, Mark James, and the police raids, here's the Rotten Boroughs column in this week's Private Eye....top of the bill no less...

As usual, for more info and background to the Wellness scandal, and for Mr James' numerous previous appearances in Private Eye's Rotten Boroughs column, please search this blog.

Libel indemnities? Auditor General says NO!

Meanwhile, whilst I continue to make my own enquiries and we await more news on Mr James, the police and the unfolding Wellness scandal, another long running scandal has taken an interesting turn.

Regular readers will know what I mean by the unlawful libel indemnity clause. Without going into years of detail, it was Mark James' little plan to to sue people into silence and chill the press, not with his own money though, but with your hard earned cash.

The Wales Audit Office ruled the clause, and the public funding of his counterclaim against me, unlawful in the 2014 Public Interest Report and the clause was 'suspended' but, as you may imagine, the council, namely Mark James and Linda Rees Jones have disagreed with this ever since. Mark James never repaid the money.

The unlawfulness of the clause, and it's use in 2012, has grave implications for Mr James and Ms Rees Jones so they have blindly defended their actions ever since. To have imparted misleading advice, and to gain financially and personally from it, is, arguably, fraud.

You will recall that most of Mr James' counterclaim involved my description of this clause (several months before he sued) as a slush fund. That was before the WAO's ruling.
You may also recall that his written undertaking to pay damages over to the council turned out to be a lie. He ignored political calls to 'do the honourable thing'.

The ban on funding libel claims is enshrined in The Local Authorities (Indemnities for Members and Officers) (Wales) Order 2006.

Emlyn Dole, once a vociferous opponent of the clause when in opposition, had a miraculous change of heart when Mr James made him Leader in 2015....

As I said above, the clause was 'suspended' in 2014 but at a meeting of the Constitutional Review Working Group (CRWG) held on 27th July 2018 an attempt was made by the leader of the Labour group to remove it completely.

At the meeting, quite the reverse happened and the majority Plaid Cymru group, led by Emlyn Dole, with Mr James right behind him, tried to reinstate the offending clause into the constitution.

It was resolved, however, to write to the WAO for their opinion and hope for the rubber stamp.

Incidentally, when the substance of this secretive CRWG meeting was made public (though not the documents), Mark James Emlyn Dole punished the opposition by denying them access to 'sensitive' documents. Including documents relating to the Wellness scandal...

Seven months later (no idea why there was such a delay), on the 28th March 2019, a six page begging letter was sent to the Auditor General from Linda Rees Jones and Chris Moore (Director of Resources) trying to persuade the WAO to change their minds, allow them to reinstate the clause and sue people whenever they wished.
There were no 'new' arguments in the letter.
Mark James of course had a direct interest so left it to trusty Linda to sign his letter...

As you may imagine, I've been trying to get all this information, the Officer's Report to CRWG, Minutes and letters, through FOI, for twelve long months.

The considered response from the Auditor General to the council's letter, which was disclosed to me last week by the WAO, was dated the 10th May and is short and sweet.

He basically tells them to sod off, and goes one step further, warning them that if they attempt to try it again, he has the power to launch a Judicial Review..

This must have been a bit of a blow to Mr James, who had yet to retire, and Legal Linda, let alone poor Emlyn who was even hoping to extend the 'libel on the rates' wheeze to himself and fellow councillors.

It has to be said that Plaid politicians Adam Price and Jonathan Edwards MP have expressed a different view to that of their litigious colleagues in County Hall. Let's hope they now have a word with them?

The AG's letter also must have dashed Mark James' hopes of dipping into the meagre council coffers and sue not only the Chair of the health board but the Herald as well. We hope so anyway.

So, what will they do now?

At another CRWG meeting on the 8th May, just before the AG responded, an opposition councillor suggested (again) that the clause be removed completely, and that they should not even bother to wait for the AG's reply as it was felt that the Authority, even on moral grounds "should not support legal action by officers against members of the public at the expense of the taxpayer".

Emlyn and co again opposed this move and insisted they wait for the Auditor General, hoping he'd pave the way for reinstatement.

Legal Linda jumped in and told them, again that it was all perfectly lawful and that the council could still fund an officer even with the clause suspended...This was a remarkable statement, she is some piece of work and should have been sacked long ago, along with Mr James. This is governance, Carmarthenshire style.

With the clear rejection from the Auditor General, again, let's hope Wendy Walters, the new CEO, expresses support for it's removal forthwith. If she doesn't, she's as bad as her predecessor.

See also this week's Carmarthenshire Herald for an excellent article on the WAO's response. "...In a letter dated May 10, the Auditor General for Wales, Adrian Crompton, effectively tells the Council to go do one."

Wider significance

County Councils currently have the power, under certain conditions, to fund an officer's defence against an action for libel, but not to bring an action. An individual officer can of course sue who he or she likes with their own money.

Councils cannot, under the Derbyshire Rule, sue as a body.

The ban on indemnities arose due to concerns that a governing body could get around this rule by funding an individual to take a case forward. However, the main concern was that this power would stifle legitimate, robust, democratic debate and have a chilling effect on investigative journalism.

Neither is it considered to be a sensible and prudent use of scarce council resources.

Hence there is wider public interest, and the significance of Carmarthenshire's actions had, and still have, implications for councils across the UK.


Later post December 2019; Libel indemnities - Auditor general say NO! again