In The Public Domain?: March 2024

Friday, 22 March 2024

Not a Gay Day in Labour Sadders + much more

Labour Virtue Signalling Gone Wrong

There is nothing bent Sandwell Labour like more than parading their "right-on" (surely "left-on"? - Ed) views at every opportunity (although most have been strangely quiet on Gaza despite the number of anti-Semites associated with the local Party. Clearly these cowards fear the wrath of Sir Woodenarse, Keir Starmer, should they wish to give voice to their consciences on that subject and bravely, er, say nothing).

As this blog has tried to show over many years, Labour likes nothing more than blowing taxpayers' money on b*llocks and leaving nothing to show for it. Many of us support LGBTQ+ rights (and many readers will fondly remember our dear departed friend, Bob Woods, late of The Lyng, a tireless advocate of gay rights who was, er, hammered by Sandwell Labour Party) but Carmichael and Co. have to use public money to SHOW how much they claim to care. Thus us taxpayers had to pay for the infamous "Rainbow Crossing" in Sandwell Valley where Dim Kez herself turned out for a photo-opportunity.

I used to call the vile wifebeater, Darren Cooper, "Sadim" - which you will note is "Midas" in reverse. My point was that everything Cooper touched turned to sh*t rather than gold. And so it is with his bent comrades. A futile gesture is made with our money and then everything decays and rots. And so it has come to pass with the crossing which was only put in two years ago! Look at the state of it now FFS - faded, potholed and hazardous.

Here is the visual proof folks - vote Labour in Sadders and there is only a crock of sh*t at the end of the rainbow.

Dodgy Dave & Gorgeous George!

Readers will know that Dave "No Brain, No Principles" Wilkes defected from the Tories to bent Labour. He has recently been breeding again, and it is said that he is anxious to improve his financial status via Labour. I tried to ask Wilko about this when he waddled out of the Council Chamber with his trademark "Oops. I've had an accident" gait:

It is said Wilko is now on his FOURTH party in recent times. He is believed to have been with one of the Brexit outfits before campaigning for George Galloway during his ill-fated campaign in West Brom East. Then he moved on to the Tories before jumping ship to Labour.

Of course George, the new MP for Rochdale, is renowned for his "controversial" views and is hated by Dave's latest Party. I wrote to "No Brain, No Principles" asking him whether he shared George's political views:

"THIS IS NOT A PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION - PRESS ENQUIRY

On your odyssey across various political parties you were formerly a campaigner for George Galloway.

Can you please confirm that you still share Mr Galloway's views generally and in respect of the State of Israel in particular?"

As with the question about money, answer came there none!

West Brom BID - sick beyond belief

Retail is in a shocking state in Sadders, but in West Brom bent Labour set up a BID, or "Business Improvement District", as yet another front organisation (although the Tories have also supported this farcical organisation). Hands up who thinks central West Brom has "improved"?

The point is that small businesses are forced into these absurd BID schemes and then have to PAY extra rates (a tax called a BID "levy") on top of all their other expenses and in a very tough retail climate. The BID then spends their money on street cleaning - which the bent Labour Council are supposed to be doing anyway - whilst operating as coppers' narks. They do f all to actually help retailers/business.

In an all-time BID low, this sick outfit recently put up a social media post showing a BID magazine being given to a Company that was closing down that very day. You just could not make this up! How appalling to turn a business failure into a photo-op by an organisation supposedly helping businesses!

As a famous singer born in Sadders (almost) warbles: "When the Levy Breaks" (Geddit?)

Welcome Alex!

It is a mystery to me why anyone with ability would want to work at Sandwell Council given its appalling reputation and the bullying that goes on. By law, the Council must have a finance supremo called a s.151 Officer. Regular readers will know that one former incumbent was the pathetic groveller, Darren Carter. He was booted out (but in the sick world of local government, incompetence and lack of ability is at a premium and he was given a job at Reading Council). The Council has been guilty of grossly delaying the publication of its annual accounts and, of course, was placed in Government "special measures" due to serious governance failures. One Simone Hines was given the gig in August, 2021 but has gone already for reasons which are opaque.

And so welcome Alex Thompson from a long stint at Cheshire East Council, who is diving headfirst into the Labour cesspit. Alas he did not leave Cheshire East in good financial shape as it is on the verge of the local government version of bankruptcy. It has begged the Government for "exceptional financial support". Let's hope he leaves Sadders in a better state one day, eh readers?

Akpoteni - there's more ...

I have been exposing in recent blogs that bent Sandwell Council gave a domiciliary care contract to (then) Labour Councillor Kacey (also Keonyemenu Chileobi) Akpoteni's Company in September, 2022 yet accounts filed shortly thereafter showed an increase in the amount of money it owed. More alarmingly, shortly after her comrades sorted the gig out for her, a Care Quality Commission inspection gave notice that her care outfit "requires improvement". I also pointed out that Akpoteni had set up another care business near the Welsh Border.

I have now discovered that as Akpoteni was also touting for business over in Wales she also became liable for review by Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW). Just six months after bent Labour sought to enrich her, CIW issued several Priority Action Notices against the Company in March, 2023 given their considerable concerns! This seems hardly surprising since the CIW annual return shows that this "socialist" only has 17 customers in Wales, but had clocked-up 8 formal complaints! Oh, and I forgot to mention that the Company was also subject to a police investigation by West Midlands Police given alleged "safeguarding concerns" although they took no further action having decided no criminal offences had been committed.

Funny that bent Labour Sandwell thought she was so marvellous yet the Care inspectorates of two countries think differently. Hateley (aka Hateful) Heath has been shafted by Labour yet again. It is a horrible ward but residents of that urban dystopia will be gratified to also know that their Councillor has now set up a mixed farming business on the Welsh border should they wish to have a chat about agricultural matters. Ooh Arr!

Transparency Sandwell Labour-style - you've been had (again)!

As someone who has had to involve the Information Commissioner and the Information Rights Tribunal on numerous occasions (and still is) to try to extract information from bent Labour Sandwell Council any claim by it to "believe in transparency" is a sick joke.

Many of you have been struggling with the current iteration of the bent Council's website where Labour (supported by Sandwell's useless Tories) has systematically removed reams of information from the public domain. I raised this problem with the Government Commissioners (appointed by a Tory Government) and was initially told that missing information would be reinstated in due course.

Alas this was, er, b*llocks. The Commissioners (who have left the Council) have now written to me:

"We completely agree that the Council must be open and transparent ..." Wait for it folks - there's a "but" ...

"As part of the relaunch of the Council's website .... the intention (my emphasis) was to ensure a more effective interface with residents and the public ... As part of this process, the Council reviewed the content to assess whether it was still relevant and documents or pages that were no longer being accessed by visitors to the site were removed."

"we believe the data retention policy should (my emphasis) reports and information is not deleted and remain available to access by request".

There you have it folks. If you want to research possible corruption you now have no search facility to even find the documents bent Labour has chosen to remove, let alone actually see them. If you think there are documents you have to ask for them.

Let's see how this works in practice. I have been writing about the sick relationship between property developer, Satnam Sahota, and Labour councillors, notably Peter Hughes and his bent wife former Cllr Pam Hughes (Skidders passim and see legal notice below). It became apparent that Labour sold land to Sahota where he built 5 properties, including one now inhabited by the grotesque Hughes's - pictured here out partying at our, taxpayers' expense with Shokat Lal, the Chief Executive of SMBC.

On 13th April, 2023 (a mere 344 days ago) I wrote to Lal asking for sight of the documents relating to the land sale, setting out in the email that these are not readily identifiable from the new website. Perhaps Lal is protecting his new pals since he has, er. failed to respond. Incidentally, this request was copied to the same Commissioners who claim that documents should be available upon request!

The cover-ups continue ...

Lion Farm Mystery

This blog exposed the bent deal Labour did with Tory donor and property developer, Jeremy Knight Adams, to destroy a massive 19ha of green space at Lion Farm Fields. This all started 12 years ago when corrupt Labour granted their capitalist pal an option over the entire site.

The Commissioners have written to me saying that they agree bent Labour should keep ongoing negotiations with Knight Adams secret even though the deal was fraudulent in the first place! (And the Tories have backed Labour all the way on this). The Commissioners confirmed that bent Labour is STILL in "commercial negotiations" with Sh*te Adams!

Mysteriously, the Commissioners claim that the negotiations are for a "designer outlet village" which will not only destroy the green space but, if it ever goes ahead, also destroy what's left of the crap retail offering in other parts of the benighted Borough. But how can this be true anyway when the site has been earmarked in the Sandwell Local Plan for 200 new houses? Someone is p*ssing down our legs and telling us it's raining.

In any event Labour are still out to destroy this large greenfield site. Alas, as we saw with Brandhall that any promises by the Tory Councillors that they will protect green spaces cannot be relied on!

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Wednesday, 13 March 2024

Cllr Akpoteni - the mystery deepens ...

One thing that never ceases to amaze is the giant-size ego of most politicians - even at the dog sh*t and potholes end of the market. But if one is prepared to give up any capacity for independent thought and become subservient to the whims of a political party then the world is one's oyster irrespective of a complete lack of talent or ability. Witness the rise of Preet Kaur Gill MP from useless Labour Sandwell Councillor to the shadow cabinet!

Image courtesy of the excellent Corrupt Sandwell
Follow on X (Twitter) @CorruptSandwell
Facebook: Sandwell Corruption

In 2021 Kacey (also Keonyemenu Chileobi) Akopoteni became a Labour Councillor in Hateful Heath ward. Watchers of the bent Labour Sandwell Council are unaware of her actually doing or saying ANYTHING of note. Yet this nonentity somehow believed - before her mysterious downfall - that she was a suitable person to be an MP. Perhaps she was, given the desperately low standard of the current incumbents ...

Incredibly she was actually short-listed by Labour for two parliamentary constituencies despite her non-existent political history:

Alas, she failed at both although this seems to have been lucky for Labour given that she is no longer making "progress through partnership" with them! As with the recent demise of Labour's most notorious masturbator, Cllr John ~~Tosser~~ Tipper, this is another departure surrounded in secrecy.

There were rumours (and this has been specifically denied by Akpoteni) that she was not actually living in Sh*thole Sandwell when she stood for the ghastly Hateful Heath. However she made a strange entry on her first Register of Interests curiously stating that she was living at a West Bromwich address although she was a pains to tell us that the house was owned by her husband. Why?

That property was sold in April, 2023 and it is said that, like many other Labour Councillors, she was anxious to get out of the frightful Borough asap. Fair enough for an elected representative - why would anyone who is not trapped in Sadders actually want to live there?

As we shall see, her business has opened a "Shropshire" branch in addition to her existing Birmingham one. And she put up on social media post about a village in Powys (Wales) whilst claiming that she was living in the Wrexham area. Hold that thought as you read on.

On her Register of Interests when she became a Councillor she declared that she had a Company involved in adult social care called Pleasant Valley Care Limited with a Birmingham registered office. Another oddity arises. As above, the West Brom house was sold in April, 2023 depriving Akpoteni of a local address (assuming, as she says, that it was a genuine address). It might just be another Sandwell Labour "coincidence" but she moved the Company's registered office to a Sandwell address. Incredibly this was to a "serviced office" in a self-storage warehouse!

Anyway this mysterious arrangement was short-lived. Corrupt Sandwell (social media details above) broke the story of her resignation from Labour in November, 2023. In January, 2024 Akpoteni changed the registered office address again to an address in Oswestry (near to her new Shropshire branch?) Farewell Sh*thole Sadders!

Her latest accounts for the period 1st December, 2021 to 30th November, 2022 show a rather alarming picture with a big increase in creditors (people the Company owes money to) pushing up net liabilities over assets to minus £35k.

A Care Quality Commission inspection occurred on 22nd November, 2022 (reported 30th December, 2022) with an overall rating for Pleasant Valley's services of, er, "requires improvement":

Look at the dates folks. In November, 2022 the Company's adult care services "required improvement", and the finances were drifting south. How convenient, therefore, that just two months earlier in September, 2022 bent Labour Sandwell Council awarded Pleasant Valley part of a large domiciliary care contract! I wonder why it ignored the facts when awarding the contract? I think we can guess, don't you readers?

At least Akpoteni won't be leaving Sadders empty-handed!

I wrote (twice) to Akpoteni asking why she left Labour but she has declined to respond, as she has too about another matter. I also wrote to Pleasant Valley asking if it was registered with the UK Home Office to support Health and Social Care visas for foreign workers, but they too have declined to respond.

Addendum - 20/03/24: Akpoteni's husband set up a separate training business at an address in Herefordshire close the the Welsh Border on 30th September, 2022. Last September the (then) Labour Councillor for Hateley Heath (and her husband) set up a "mixed farming" business from the same address (which is actually in the centre of a small town)! Labour are destroying every bit of green space in Sandwell and so I suppose there is not much chance of running a farm in Hateful Heath!

LEGAL NOTICE (Version 4 from 8th October, 2023.)

In most cases we try to give the subjects of these blog posts the opportunity to comment on our journalism pre-publication to ensure the accuracy of our work.

Every now and again we make a genuine error and get something wrong. If an error in the blog affects you please email thesandwellskidder@gmail.com and we shall

use our best endeavours to remove offending material and/or publish appropriate corrections forthwith (together with an apology, if applicable).

Tuesday, 12 March 2024

Gove's Hoare screws Sandwell Tories!

Sandwell Tories have been astonishingly useless since they gained some MP's and Councillors. No matter what is happening nationally - where their divided, fractious, Party is hurtling towards oblivion - the local guys and gals have been an absolute disgrace. And so it is fitting that their own Government Ministers should hammer the final nails into the coffin.

Despite the high number of thick and apathetic voters in bent Labour Sandwell, many people will have heard of Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up (lol). Gove sent Commissioners in to sort out the mess caused by the people listed below (and many others) but all they have done is show the scum how to railroad their perverted schemes through the Council more efficiently than before. And the Tory MP's and Councillors have sat there and said absolutely f all - indeed, sometimes actually cheering them on!

Gove is of the view that everything is now hunky dory in the benighted Borough, or at least on the right track, when most of the same rotten crew who steered the Council into the iceberg are still at the helm. The relatively new Chief Exec has shown himself to be weak so far, kowtowing to protesters who disrupted the last Council meeting and being in thrall of the poisonous Cllr Peter Hughes. What can possibly go wrong ...

Most of you will never have heard of Simon Hoare MP who is the junior in Gove's Department, supposedly in charge of local government. As we shall see, the local Tories are on life support but this pair have switched off the machine.

In 2019 Hoare was fined not once, not twice, not thrice, but FOUR times for driving offences but he did the decent thing and claimed the money on his parliamentary expenses from us taxpayers! That's the sort of guy we are dealing with here. (Happily, he was forced to pay the money back by the Parliamentary Standards Authority.)

Let's just hold on a minute and look back to, say, 2017 when Labour corruption was moving to a whole new level. Gone was the amateurism of the Cooper/Eling/Britton era. Now corruption was being institutionalised in the Eling/Britton era and penetrating every orifice of the Council. Let's just remind ourselves of some of the individuals playing fast and loose with the governance of the Borough and treading the inexorable path towards Government intervention:

Steve "Squealing" Eling

The disgraced former Leader still believed to be earning a good screw working in local government at Rotherham

Jan Britton

The now disgraced Chief Exec - currently earning £150k per annum at Tory Dorset Council courtesy of the taxpayer (see further below) - despite his appalling record at Sadders.

Kerrie "Dim Kez" Carmichael

Major Eling rimmer now the Leader of the Council! At her first meeting as Leader she openly lied twice within minutes of her promotion.

Simon "The Sandwell Slasher" Hackett

Corrupt liar (more soon) who failed as Director of Children's Services so that it was taken over by a Trust. Now head of, er, Children's Services

Syeda Khatun

A corrupt liar (see the Hackett scandal) who has made a small fortune out of "charity" work. Sacked for lying and now back in the Cabinet! Also her lies caused the High Court "exclusion" litigation (Skidders passim).

(Seen here with The Squealer and her constant companion, Derek Rowley, who escaped a police investigation despite being involved in the sale of Council property on Facebook!)

Paul "The Cipher" Moore

Metaphorical arse-licker extraordinaire. Weaker than p*ss and soon to be joined on the Council by his partner. Now Chair of (the non-existent) Scrutiny! Inexplicably constantly rimmed by, er, Tory Councillors!

The shaming degringolade of the local Tories continued when Shaun Bailey MP (West Brom West) wasted an Adjournment Debate in the House of Commons recently with his bizarre proposal to "abolish" Sandwell. Many are prepared to overlook Shaun's failure to achieve anything of note in his first - and almost certainly only - term since they enjoy his sound and fury - or, as I would describe it, p*ss and wind - approach. People tell me that at least he is "speaking-up" for his constituency, but so what if achieves absolutely b*gger all?

Let me remind you again, that Gove, Hoare and Bailey are supposed to be on the same side. Even though Bailey's debate was daft, the normal Westminster sh*tbaggery means that the Minister will say soothing words, promise (falsely) that s/he will look into matters and compliment the MP on "fighting" for his constituents. But, for whatever reason, Hoare decided to humiliate Shaun instead (presumably with Gove's full backing).

In the debate [sic] Shaun did his ludicrous schtick but Wolvo North-EastTory MP Jane Stevenson made a good intervention about failing Councils like bent Labour Sandwell who try to blame successive governments for THEIR failure. She pointed out that other councils do better than the likes of Sandwell under exactly those same governments. Councils like bent Sandwell need to "take responsibility" when they are the worst in a number of areas compared to others, which, of course, they are - although local morons like it that way.

Tory Hoare commented on the rosy state of the Council's reserves which begs the question why bent Labour are not spending some of them instead of bleeding locals dry with maximum Council Tax increases, plus huge increases in Council rents and charges! One - nil to bent Labour.

He set out the failures of corrupt Labour involving many of the current leadership (see above) but then paid tribute to "the current leadership" of the Council i.e. mostly the same people. Two - nil to bent Labour.

He claimed that to admit wrongdoing is the route to recovery. But Carmichael, Hackett, Khatun, Moore and others have never admitted ANY wrongdoing and are STILL actively fighting to cover-up evidence of their misdeamenours. For example, Carmichael had been Leader for, literally, minutes when she lied to a full public meeting that she had no knowledge of what the Cox Review even was! Needless to say the local Tory MP's and Councillors have been happy to connive in these cover-ups, and have done precisely nothing to get at the truth.

(Just in the last few days Spellar's rimmer-in-chief, Gurinder Josan - who happens to be on Labour's national ruling body, tweeted that old canard that there was nothing wrong with bent Sandwell Labour in the first place (despite various official reports showing a succession of horror stories) and that the £2m intervention was simply a "political" move via the Tories! Hardly an acceptance of wrongdoing.)

To rub the hapless Bailey's nose in it Hoare repeated his praise of Dim Kez and her gang: "they should be both congratulated and encouraged" given their "significant progress". Three - nil to bent Labour.

Hoare then shafted Bailey directly up the derriere. He told him that there was no support for his crazy "scrap" Sandwell nonsense and that a change in the "architecture" of the Borough would be a "distraction" from the vital improvement work which he claims is "ongoing". Ouch! And four-nil to bent Labour.

Still the humiliation continued when he told Bailey, in terms, to stop mucking about and, er, "to work with the current leadership of the council to explore ... opportunities". Five - nil to bent Labour.

Needless to say the crooked comrades have been cock-a-hoop that Gove and Hoare have given them such a public pat on the back. Any of you who use social media will have seen bent Labour crowing day after day at the Tory Minister's praise for the same people who shafted the Borough in the first place. Perhaps we should get some "Hoare loves Dim Kez" T-shirts printed?

Hoare has long been involved in PR [public relations] work. Perhaps he mistook his brief and thought he should be giving Sandwell Labour the woo-woo treatment!

The first question is why local Tories let Bailey go ahead with this crazed rubbish? The second is why he didn't talk to his own Government before calling the Debate when he could have been told to back-off privately, and without the public mortification?

Of course, Gove and Hoare have now lifted the intervention giving bent Labour another chance to do what they do best - praising themselves. This despite the fact that Sandwell is one of the most deprived and useless local council areas in the country despite 50 YEARS of LABOUR control.

With friends like Gove and Hoare, who needs enemies?

Former Tory Councillor accuses local Tory party of being bent

This blog has reported the local Tory meltdown. The fact that MP Nicola Richards is p*ssing over the people of West Brom East (see further below). The total failure of the Tory Councillors to achieve anything substantial. The defection of two of their number to a local Labour Party they know to be corrupt. The strange defenestration of two other Councillors who are currently sitting as "Independents". The humiliation of Bailey set out above

One of the new "Independents", Cllr Jay Anandou (Old Warley) is now said to be in regular communication with Adam Smith, the misogynistic p*sshead now at the Wolvo C*cksuckers (aka The Express and Star). Smith is a mouthpiece for Dim Kez and Sandwell Labour and so maybe another defection is coming. In the meantime, Anandou appears to be burning his bridges with the Tories since on social media he recently wrote: "also, perhaps the word bent needs to be considered against more than one party in Sandwell ... just based on my own exp [i.e. experience].

What an absolute shambles. Get the Tories out this year and then Sandwell Labour corruption can continue as normal for another half century - just how the locals like it!

Runaway Richards

I am sure most you are aware the Nicola Richards MP is effing off. Yet despite her dismal track record as MP for West Brom East she is hoping to get the "safe" Tory seat (if such still exists) in posh Solihull. It seems that the Tory high command is not only content to shaft WBE, but may be trying to rig the process to get her the Solihull gig.

I am indebted to the national Guido Fawkes website for their permission to use their recent article on the sleazy business:

What another absolute shocker!

You can read the current Guido Fawkes via this link: https://order-order.com/ Always entertaining!

And finally, the Dorset Tory Sh*tshow rumbles on ...

When submissions were made to Michael Gove to send the Commissioners into bent Labour Sandwell one figure loomed very large - disgraced former Chief Executive, Jan Britton. He was a major factor in the lawless ways of the Council, and heavily involved in what Grant Thornton [Sandwell's supposedly independent auditors] call "the long-term historic mismanagement" of Sadders. You might expect that Gove's local government supremo, Hoare (as above), would know the facts of the intervention although he has only been in the job for a short time.

Skidder readers will have seen my regular posts over a number of years naming and shaming Britton, but he hung on until he was forced out without compensation - a real rarity in the rotten world of local government.

How anyone would employ this useless groveller to clean their lavatory is beyond me. But Dorset Council Tories apparently think he is great and have given him an initial 12-month gig at £150k. See my recent post and weep:

https://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.com/2024/02/four-tories-go-mad-in-dorset.html

(Incidentally, Dorset Council is delaying a Freedom of Information request about this scandal - again!)

Of course, this is a scandal where the Minister for Local Government, our friend Hoare, should be demanding an inquiry. But fat chance of that since Hoare is MP for, er, North Dorset and is hardly likely to cause any embarrassment of his local pals!

LEGAL NOTICE (Version 4 from 8th October, 2023.)

In most cases we try to give the subjects of these blog posts the opportunity to comment on our journalism pre-publication to ensure the accuracy of our work.

Every now and again we make a genuine error and get something wrong. If an error in the blog affects you please email thesandwellskidder@gmail.com and we shall

use our best endeavours to remove offending material and/or publish appropriate corrections forthwith (together with an apology, if applicable).

Wednesday, 6 March 2024

Technical Blog - Sandwell Council lies to Tribunal & Information Commissioner

Bent Labour Sandwell Council (SMBC) has played fast and loose with the law in respect of Freedom of Information for many years and has lied to the Information Commissioner (IC or ICO) and to the Information Rights Tribunal on a number of occasions - with complete impunity.

This matter is also noteworthy in respect of the sheer length of time I have had to fight for the truth here. In this case the Tribunal was specifically told that the disastrous suspension of Sandwell's Cabinet secretarries was subject to a new investigation at the time of the hearing whereas bent Sandwell confirmed in a later Freedom of Infomation request that the so-called "investigation" - such as it was - had, in fact, already been concluded.

Here is an email I sent to the Tribunal, the Information Commissioner, and bent Sandwell Council on 13th December, 2023. No response has been received.

"THIS IS A PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION FOR 28 DAYS ONLY

"I have repeatedly informed the ICO and Information Rights Tribunal of the corruption influencing SMBC to lie to the IC and the Tribunal. The only outcome of this has been abuse of me personally and, in one case, mockery of me by a Judge of the Tribunal in the course of a live hearing (which will shortly be the subject of further correspondence). I would respectfully remind the Tribunal and the ICO that SMBC are currently in Government "special measures" due to serious governance concerns (at huge cost to the taxpayer).

"Case EA/2019/xxxx arose from the wrongful suspension by SMBC of the secretaries working for Cabinet members on the basis of a false allegation. I made a FOIA [Fereedom of Infomation] request in respect of the sordid affair which was substantially refused. The matter proceeded via the ICO to a full Tribunal hearing led by Judge xxxxxx.

"Although SMBC had (once again) lied to the ICO about the availability of disclosable documentation, a large tranche of same was magically "found"" prior to the Tribunal Hearing and 631 days after the date of the original request.

"David Stevens, the now disgraced and former Chief Executive of SMBC, gave evidence both orally and in writing. SMBC played the same argument it also used in another Tribunal hearing. Stevens dealt with my complaints about SMBC's late disclosure of documents by informing Judge xxxxxx and the Panel that he had ordered an "investigation" into the original handling of my FOIA request.

"In respect of the substantive issue he played a trick also used by SMBC at another Tribunal Hearing, telling the Tribunal that he had ordered a brand new investigation into the substantive issue (here, the wrongful suspensions) so that SMBC could rely of s.31 to avoid further disclosure since that may prejudice the ongoing "new" investigation. (See further below.)

"I made a further FOIA request in respect of the alleged new investigations by the now disgraced Stevens. Whilst this has only been partially successful, new documentation disclosed casts considerable doubt on the evidence given by Stevens. I should add that SMBC - once again - only managed to find documentation which it had "missed" when dealing with the original request AND an internal review after the intervention of the ICO.

"It is noteworthy that the actual hearing was part-heard on the original date of 30th October, 2019 and went over to a second date being 30th January, 2020.

"It is now clear that Stevens did order a desk-top evaluation of the handling of the original FOIA - probably by a senior employee called Neil Cox - but that this was concluded by mid-November, 2019 - at the very latest - with a decision not to continue with any further action. Whilst this was after the date of the first half of the hearing it was some two and a half months before the second half of the hearing but that information was deliberately concealed from the Panel. Stevens admitted at bundle page 119 para. 11 that the preliminary "fact finding" was done on 13th August, 2019 but at para 14 on the same page he added, "I can confirm that this matter is being looked into to understand why this occurred". Neither he nor Mr Hopkins of Counsel informed me, the ICO, or the Tribunal itself that no further action was being taken when this was known weeks before the second part of the hearing.

"Stevens did also commission a supposedly independent report from West Midlands Employers (WME) into the actual suspensions, which SMBC has also refused to disclose via my second FOIA request. I say that WME is not truly "independent" but the real relevance here is, again, the dates. At page 119 para 13 of the bundle Stevens said he received the Report on 17th October, 2019. He stated, "The report indicates that the matter [i.e. the suspensions] was not dealt with appropriately. The report considers whether the Council should be taking any action, disciplinary or otherwise, against the officers who dealt with the matter".

"The "independent" Report was commissioned very shortly before [the] Tribunal hearing was due - I say in a deliberate attempt to nix it - but Stevens told the Panel (bundle page 121 para. 23) "The matter is still live: my investigation could result in action being taken against other council officers for their conduct during the suspension, investigation and handling of the original FOI. Public disclosure in these circumstances would be highly prejudicial to this investigation". Leaving aside - for now - that this was straight out of the playbook used by SMBC in another Tribunal case and - I say - that the "independent" report was due to be a whitewash, the fact is that the latest FOI clearly shows that by December, 2019 any issues arising from the Report were concluded with the last communication on the subject dated 6th January, 2020 - 24 days before the second half of the hearing. Neither myself, the ICO or the Tribunal were informed of this.

"For the avoidance of any doubt SMBC stated in the second FOIA response that the outcome of the investigation into the suspensions "was that no further action should be taken against any officer". If that was actually in the Report then Stevens knew this even before he wrote his original statement and before he gave live evidence to the Tribunal. I was under the impression that constitues perjury? In any event, he definitely knew before the second hearing but allowed the deceit to lie on the record.

"There were solicitors from SMBC as well as Mr Hopkins of Counsel at both hearings but the facts were concealed. Yet as xxxxxx'x judgment reads at para. 82:

"Mr Hopkins went on to refer to the statement of David Stevens, at para 23, where he states that the matter is now live again and could result in a further investigation. If there is any doubt in January, 2018. there is no doubt now, and there could be further disciplinary action (i.e. against other persons, not the secretaries). There would be dangers if this information was put into the public domain before any investigation had run its course ..."

"Whilst Mr Hopkins has been very willing to make written attacks on me in a number of Tribunal cases only to withdraw them at the commencement of live hearings, I somehow doubt that he has deliberately tried to mislead the Panel but Stevens and/or SMBC Solicitors did so mislead.

"I understand that the Panel eventually concluded, in effect, that my original FOIA had been too early and that it should view the position as at January, 2018 but the fact remains that much Tribunal time was taken up with arguments about a supposed ongoing investigation which had, in fact, been concluded. For example, Mr Hopkins made submissions about the possibility of a "steps direction" given the supposedly ongoing "new investigation". If the Tribunal was aware that there was no further ongoing investigation would it have found differently? Possibly not, but I am thoroughly sick of having MY character and reputation [being] impugned by SMBC and their Counsel when they [i.e. SMBC staff] have repeatedly lied to the ICO and the Tribunal over a period of several years. Just recently the ICO - which now employs one of the former SMBC solicitors directly involved in the above - applied twice (and failed twice) to strike out further Appeals to the Tribunal. I am just wondering when someone in authority is going to get a grip on all this and ensure that firm action is taken against SMBC employees (including solicitors) who continue to act unlawfully and mislead the Tribunal?"

As above, Sandwell has been given the opportunity to comment on the above but has declined to do so.

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