The District Audit Service has finally reported its findings
on the Hall-Ryan business and found that the two of them are
squeaky clean.
Or so you may have heard on Pembrokeshire Radio and will probably
read in tomorrow's Western Telegraph.
This conclusion is based on a three-paragraph summary at the
end of a ten-page report by the District Audit Service (DAS).
As someone who provided information to the DAS inquiry, Old Grumpy
has been favoured with a copy of the complete document.
And I must say, my first, second and third impression is that
the District Audit Service must be a strong contender for the
Lord Hutton award for institutional whitewash of the year.
Unfortunately, I am unable to comment in detail on the various
errors and omissions because the report is accompanied by an
extract from the Audit Commission Act 1998 which provides that
anyone disclosing information "relating to a particular
body or other person ..." shall be liable to up to two years
in prison, a large fine, or both.
However, the Act does contain a get-out clause which states that
such information may be disclosed: "with the consent of
the body or person to whom the information relates."
Having nothing to hide, I have no problem with anyone disclosing
any information in the report relating to me, and I have written
to Pembrokeshire County Council's Chief Executive, Bryn Parry-Jones:
Head of Marketing, David Thomas; the Leader, Maurice Hughes;
Cllr Brian Hall; and Dr Michael Ryan suggesting that, in the
interests of open, accountable government, they should consent
to the information relating to them being put into the public
domain.
I am anticipating a positive response from these taxpayer-funded
public servants who can surely be relied on to put the public
interest above all else.
If for some reason they feel unable to co-operate I will just
have to find some other way of forcing the facts out into the
open.
One possibility, now he has been cleared by the DAS, is that
Dr Ryan will carry out his longstanding threat to sue me for
libel.
It is with keen anticipation that I await the arrival of the
writ.
Postscript.
I did write to all five of the above. Mr Thomas responded positively
and Mr Parry-Jones said that he had no objection provided I published
the report in full so as to avoid selective quotation.
Unfortunately, despite sending them all a reminder, none of the
other three bothered to reply, which, of course, rather negated
Mr Parry-Jones' consent.
Interesting distinction
However there are aspects of the DAS report which have either
already been reported here or do not contain information relating
to anyone, and I see no reason why I shouldn't discuss them here.
Firstly, I will deal with the DAS's conclusion that the inquiry
has "...not identified any actual (my emphasis) conflicts
of interest".
I am not altogether sure what difference there is, if any, between
an actual conflict of interest and an ordinary conflict of interest
and the report does not make the distinction clear.
Whatever, I think the DAS is wrong.
The facts are that on the 16 October 2000 Dr Ryan faxed a two-page
letter and a six-page business plan to Cllr Hall.
These documents, the authenticity of which is nowhere questioned,
set out in some detail the two men's intention to form a company
as a vehicle for doing significant business deals in Pembrokeshire,
particularly Pembroke Dock.
These included taking over the Pembrokeshire Business Initiative
and a scheme involving the Purcell Bros, the then owners of the
Cleddau Bridge Hotel.
The whole of Dr Ryan's letter can be read at (Hall-Ryan.
The whole story)
It seems that on October 16, just 10 weeks after Dr Ryan's appointment
by the council, these plans were already well advanced because,
under the heading "Marketing", the business plan says:
"To date Dr Ryan and Brian Hall have been requested to participate
in a number of projects:
Hotel,
Recreation & Conference Centre Project (Masterplanning and
Project Management)
International
Investment Project aligned to Pembroke Dock redevelopment
European
Commission Objective 1 Project Finance Design and Submission."
I apologise for all those ungrammatical capital letters but that
is how it is in the business plan.
Between 16-19 November 2000, just a month after the fax was sent,
Dr Ryan spent four days in Pembroke Dock in the company of Cllr
Brian Hall and a Mr Pat O'Sullivan.
Cllr Hall claimed travelling expenses during this period and
Dr Ryan was paid £450-a-day, plus travelling and hotel
costs.
In all, this exercise cost the taxpayer in excess of £2,000.
The Code of Conduct in force when these events took place states:
"You should not allow the impression to be created that
you are, or may be, using your position to promote a private
or personal interest rather than forwarding the general public
interest".
And, at another point: "It is not enough to avoid actual
impropriety. You should at all times avoid any occasion for suspicion
and any appearance of improper conduct".
I put it to you that anyone armed with all the facts about
the business activities of Dr Ryan and Cllr Hall, present and
planned, as set out in the fax of 16 October 2000 could form
the reasonable "impression" that they were or may be
using some or all of this time in Pembroke Dock to further their
own ends.
The whole point about conflicts of interest is that they simply
exist - there is no need, as the auditor seems to suggest, for
proof of some tangible result.
Of course, I can't prove that Dr Ryan and Brian Hall spent some,
all or any of those four days promoting their involvement in
the "International Investment Project aligned to Pembroke
Dock Redevelopment", or some other scheme, but neither can
they prove that they didn't [Incidentally, I recently discovered
that, just a few months after this tour of Pembroke Dock, Dr
Ryan and a Mr Pat O'Sullivan set up the company Intro Europe
Ltd see Little by little)
That being the case it was an "occasion for suspicion",
as the Code puts it, and that is enough to create a conflict
of interest.
To give an example: suppose a councillor fails to declare an
interest and leave a meeting of the planning committee where
his brother's application is discussed.
Nobody can ever prove that he was influenced by the fact that
the applicant was his brother.
But, people may suspect that he was and, even if he is the Archangel
Gabriel, there is a conflict of interest.
And that conflict of interest exists whether the application
is passed or not.
Furthermore, these rules are so strictly applied that the House
of Lords has upheld the principle that there is a breach of the
Code of Conduct even if the councillor votes against his
brother's application.
Stranger to the truth
In November 2002, when I first revealed details of the business
relationship between Hall and Ryan, the county council rushed
out a press release in the name of the Leader, Maurice Hughes.
One passage read:"The Council is fully aware of the company
Euroryall. Before the company was registered the principals [Hall
and Ryan] approached officers of the Council. They [Hall and
Ryan] gave firm undertakings that the company would not trade
in Pembrokeshire nor provide any conflict of interest".
This struck Old Grumpy as particularly dubious because I had
by then had sight of Ryan's fax to Hall dated 16 October 2000
which detailed their extensive and ambitious plans to um, er,
trade in Pembrokeshire.
I sent five emails to the Leader asking for the names of the
officers approached, the date the approach was made and the nature
of the firm undertakings.
I never did receive an answer to my questions.
The reason for his reticence is not far to seek because, after
reading the evidence in the DAS report, I can tell you, without
hesitation, that the passage quoted above contains not a single
grain of truth.
Running on empty
Checking the list and runners for the forthcoming County Council
elections, I was struck by the number of Independent Political
(sic) Group members who have left the description section of
their nomination form blank.
Following a recent change in the rules, the choice for those
candidates who do not belong to a registered political party
is either "Independent" or nothing.
Not wishing to be associated in any way with the undemocratic
and discredited Independent Political Group (IPG) which runs
the County Council, I, too, left the description blank.
Now I find myself running against George Max, a signed up member
of the IPG- and they are signed up whatever they might try to
tell you - whose description is exactly the same as my own.
It is a measure of the extent to which the synchronised voters
of the IPG have debased Pembrokeshire politics that "independent"
has become a dirty word.
So dirty in fact that that those who have dragged this honourable
word down into the gutter are disowning it themselves.
It was always a logical nonsense, of course, to stand as an independent
and then, straight after the election, join a "political
group" but recent publicity seems to have brought it home
to some that the name is now a liability.
The dirty baker's dozen who are trying to hide their membership
of this "political group" from the electorate are:
John Allen-Mirehouse, Bill Hitchings, Bill Roberts, Steve Watkins,
John George, Leslie Raymond, Rosemary Hayes, Bryan Phillips,
Glyn Rees, George Max, Robert Lewis, Mark Edwards and John Murphy.
And I can't let this matter pass without mentioning that a famous
former stalwart of the Independent Political Group, one Edward
George Setterfield, is also running on an empty description box..
Should one of them come knocking on your door, ask if they intend
to remain detached from the group if elected.
If the answer is no, ask to see a copy of the party's manifesto.
Eggsagerating
I have received an anonymous email from a reader casting doubt
on my claim in last week's column to have new potatoes in my
garden as big as an egg..
"You seem to be learning tricks from the spin doctors in
County Hall", my correspondent writes, "because you
didn't specify what sort of egg".
"Presumably, if the garden inspection service was called
in to investigate the truth of what you said and found nothing
bigger than a marble under the soil, you would claim you meant
a sparrow's egg and, although everyone knows the impression you
intended to plant in the minds of your readers was of a hen's
egg, the inspectors would give you the all clear because you
hadn't told an actual lie."
In fact, faced with the inspectors I would buy some new potatoes
from Tesco and bury them in the rows. I'm sure they wouldn't
notice that the spuds were not attached to the tops.
However, just to be sure that last week's report was accurate
I have had another moyle around the bottom of the stalks and
I can confirm that the potatoes are the size of a hen's egg.
If challenged, I will say I meant moorhen.
And, if things get really tough, I will tell the inspectors that
the article was written in June 2003 and got posted on last week's
website by mistake, so, while I may have been a bit negligent,
there was no question of wilful deception..
Printed and published by Robert Michael Stoddart Court Farm,
Liddeston, Milford Haven SA73 3QA
Back to home page