MP calls for Mark James to repay the cash

Following Pembrokeshire councillors' request last week that Bryn Parry Jones should pay back his unlawful pension payments, Plaid Cymru MP Jonathan Edwards has renewed his call for Carmarthenshire Chief Executive Mark James CBE to pay back his unlawful payments.

He goes one step further and states that Mr James should be 'instructed' to pay back the money.

"The action taken by councillors in Pembrokeshire echo the calls that I and my Plaid Cymru colleagues have made since the publication of the damning Wales Audit Office reports which deemed the payments for the chief executive's benefit to be 'unlawful'.  

"I welcome the position taken by Pembrokeshire Council and firmly believe the chief executive of Carmarthenshire Council should also have to pay back that money." 

"The unlawful payments equated to over £55,000 and it appears that up to £100,000 extra will be spent because of the actions taken by the Labour and Independent Executive Board" 

"Instructing the chief executive to pay back what the auditor considers to be 'unlawful' is not only the right thing to do, but would go some way to clawing back the enormous amount of taxpayers' money which has been spent on this issue."

Then we have the response from, as usual, the unnamed 'council spokeswoman';

"We have been clear that the council does not acknowledge the indemnity as unlawful, and, whilst the pay supplement policy has been rescinded on procedural grounds, we do not concede that it was intrinsically unlawful.  

"Our chief executive benefited from a policy implemented by his employer for a short period of time, and as such we do not consider that pursuing recovery of monies is the best action to take at this time."

Who exactly is saying this? Who is speaking on behalf of the council? Apparently Mr James' stand-in, Dave Gilbert is writing statements for Kevin Madge, so presumably Mr James, with the police investigation over, will be taking up the duty again from now on. 

The council, or whoever it is that is putting out statements, continues to reject the findings of the independent auditor. The auditor has said he will take no further action and as far as the libel indemnity goes, the clause in the constitution has been suspended. If the findings continue to be rejected will the clause go back in? If so then this will, and should, end up in court. I'll take it there myself if I have to.

Unless either the WAO or the seemingly impotent Welsh Government take a firm stand will this set a precedent for other council executives to give away cash, to the total detriment of the taxpayer, and ignore the fact or even the possibility that such payments are unlawful?

It's not just the tens of thousands of pounds paid out unlawfully of course, but the staggering amount spent on defending the chief executive since the auditor flagged up the scandals last year. 

They "do not consider that pursuing recovery of monies is the best action to take at this time", so what is the best action to take? Well, with the police off their backs, sit back and stick two fingers up at the WAO and the taxpayers I suppose, with trebles all round...