16 January (Part 5) - Hiding their identities
It’s not realistic to expect the minutes of the Code of Conduct Sub-Committee meeting to tell the whole truth but you might reasonably expect them to record everyone who was present, but in Bexley absolutely nothing is honest. Hence the following Freedom of Information request.
The draft minutes of the Members' Code of Conduct Complaints Sub Committee
held on 10th December 2015 show the following individuals as being present at
the meeting - Councillors Cheryl Bacon, Nigel Betts and Stefano Borella. Also
present was Councillor Maxine Fothergill, Councillor June Slaughter, Ms Rebecca
Sandhu, Independent Person and Mr Kenneth Atmore, Investigating Officer.
As of Agenda Item 4 - Exclusion of the Press and Public, Councillors Fothergill
and Slaughter were not present at the meeting, which can be confirmed by myself,
Mr John Watson, Mr Elwyn Bryant, members of the public and Mr Dave Easton.
Mr Akin Alabi, Monitoring Officer, was present at the meeting but is not shown
as being so in the draft minutes.
One other female, who was sitting between Mr Alabi and Ms Sandhu is not shown as
being present.
There is no reference, in accordance with Section 3.1(f) of the Rules of
Procedure, of any representations from Members of the MCSC, the Monitoring
Officer and/or the Subject Member, as to whether any part of the hearing should
be held in private and/or whether any documents (or parts thereof) should be
withheld from the public/press.
Please provide a copy of the minutes containing the correct details, as set out above.
It
has been widely speculated in the past that Rebecca Sandhu is related to
the former Conservative Mayor of Dartford making Ms. Sandhu a not very
Independent Person. There are also persistent rumours to the effect that Ms. Sandhu did not believe Councillor Fothergill had done anything wrong at all.
That might just indicate another Council stitch-up.
Neither of these stories has yet been substantiated.
Index to related blogs.