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£137k Labour council chief suspended on full pay for SIX YEARS is finally sacked

A LABOUR council boss who was suspended on full pay for more than six years in a dispute that has cost taxpayers up to £6million has finally been sacked.

Anthony o’Sullivan was suspended in March 2013 after a row over pay, before being placed on ‘special leave’.

Since then the former chief executive of Caerphilly council has received his full £137,000 salary – despite not having to turn up for work. But at a meeting of councillors held in private on Thursday night, Mr o’Sullivan was dismissed ‘without notice for gross misconduct’.

Campaigners said they were glad the ‘sorry saga’ had finally come to an end. But Mr o’Sullivan insisted the ‘matter is far from concluded’, and he had ‘nothing to apologise to people in Caerphilly for’. He said he will appeal the decision at an employment tribunal.

Mr o’Sullivan was suspended following allegations he engineered a 20 per cent pay increase for himself and two other senior officers, while most other staff had a pay freeze. After criminal charges were dropped in 2015, Appeal: Anthony O’Sullivan the two other men agreed payouts worth £300,000 between them. Mr o’Sullivan then spent three years on special leave while investigations into his actions continued.

Taking into account legal costs and payouts to the other officers, the cost to the taxpayer has been estimated at between £4 million and £6 million.

Cllr Barbara Jones, interim leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council, said it was regrettable that the process to dismiss Mr o’Sullivan had taken so long. She added: ‘This decision concludes a very difficult chapter for the council and we must now move forward.’

Cllr Colin Mann, leader of the Plaid Cymru group on the council, said: ‘A huge amount of public money has gone down the drain.

‘Since September 2012, the ruling Labour administration has presided over a saga which, including pay rises for senior officers, has cost taxpayers well over £6 million.

‘ You couldn’t make it up! Money has been spent on paying senior officers to stay at home, legal and audit fees, when it should have been spent on frontline services, such as keeping public toilets open, keeping street lights on and securing the future of all our leisure centres. The losers have been the residents.’

Cllr Mann added: ‘It is vital lessons are learnt and this never, ever happens again.’

Jess Turner, unison Cymru Wales regional organiser, added: ‘This sorry saga should have been resolved years ago when unison brought the matter to light. Staff are absolutely sick of it and the council needs to move on.’

Mr o’Sullivan told the BBC: ‘ What I would say to the people of Caerphilly now is wait until the employment tribunal takes place in public, wait until the full facts emerge in the public domain. Then make a reasoned decision.’