Church storm as Cathedral Dean rejects claims of an unauthorised £35k spend
AMAJOR row has broken out within the Church in Wales, with allegations of financial irregularities made against the Dean of Llandaff that he strongly denies.
Llandaff Cathedral’s newly published annual report and financial statements for 2020, published on its website, contains a section which states: “In 2021, Chapter [the Cathedral’s governing body] has been investigating expenditure totalling £69,350 between 2016 and 2020 of which at least £35,551 it does not believe was approved by the trustees, as required in law.
“As a result of a report commissioned by Chapter (and shared with the Charity Commission) from a Queen’s Counsel independent of the trustees, Chapter has concluded that the following amounts were apparently authorised by The Very Reverend Gerwyn Capon [the dean] which benefited him personally, directly or indirectly, but were not approved by the trustees of the charity.
“For work at the deanery (not owned or maintained by the charity), including the purchase of an Aga cooker and wood-burning stove: £22,173;
“Furniture, artwork and other items: £4,789;
“Entertaining, travel and other costs: £5,325;
“A further £3,264 was apparently authorised by the Very Reverend Gerwyn Capon for payment to an employee in addition to salary, without the authority of the trustees.
“The QC’s report recommends that the trustees seek restitution of these amounts, and the trustees are taking steps accordingly.”
The Dean responded with a statement saying: “I am deeply shocked the Cathedral Chapter has taken a decision to defame me in this way.
“In May 2020, I was diagnosed with clinical depression and needed some time off work, whereupon the Chapter made a series of unfounded allegations against me to the bishop [Rt Rev June Osborne].
“She referred them immediately to the Disciplinary Tribunal of the Church in Wales, before which I was invited to appear in order to answer their complaints.
“The tribunal reviewed my detailed evidence and concluded there was no case to answer. I was completely exonerated.
“For Chapter now to renew them, knowing of the tribunal’s decision, is entirely malicious, and people will properly question their action.
“Needless to say, I refute the allegations completely, and refer, again, to the decision of the Church in Wales Tribunal who rejected them at the very first hurdle.
“I have written formally to the Chapter asking them to retract these defamatory remarks and remove them from the cathedral website.”
The dean shared the report of the disciplinary tribunal with the Western Mail.
It states that a committee of the tribunal met in October 2020 to consider a referral from the bishop relating to the dean.
A complaint made by Gerald Elias QC as vice-chair of the Chapter obliged the committee to decide “whether [the dean] was responsible for neglect of duties of office, or persistent carelessness or gross inefficiency in the discharge of his duties and / or that his conduct had given just cause for scandal or offence”.
The committee found no evidence of claims incurred by or authorised by the dean that were improper, but said there was a “somewhat antiquated accounting system which oversaw a lack of a proper framework for the claim and payment of expenses”.
There had been no complaints from the external auditors.
The committee concluded: “While we find that the dean might have been more proactive in addressing the difficulties that the system he inherited posed, that responsibility was not his alone and we do not find that any failings were such as to enable us to find that he has a case to answer on the basis of neglect of duties of office, or persistent carelessness or gross inefficiency in the discharge of such duties.
“Accordingly we find that the dean does not have a case to answer.”
A spokeswoman for the Church in Wales said: “The dean remains off work due to illness.
“I have checked with the Cathedral Chapter and they are not commenting further.”
The Very Rev Capon, 56, was appointed Dean of Llandaff in 2014 by the former Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, whose chaplain he had been.