A VETERAN Blaenau Gwent councillor suspended by his party is to be the subject of an investigation by a public service watchdog, it has been confirmed.
Veteran Cllr Brian Scully was suspended by the Labour party and referred to the Public Service Ombudsman for Wales by his council’s Labour leader, Hedley McCarthy earlier in October.
A spokeswoman for ombudsman yesterday confirmed to the Argus that it had been decided the complaint against Cllr Scully should be investigated.
The decision was taken by the previous Ombudsman, Peter Tyndall, who left the organisation last Friday – the investigation would take place under the new acting ombudsman Margaret Griffiths, who started work in the post on Monday.
Details of why the decision was taken or how long the investigation into a code of conduct complaint would take were not available yesterday.
A spokesman for Blaenau Gwent council yesterday said: “We can confirm that the ombudsman is investigating a complaint about Cllr Scully.”
Cllr Scully was censured for breaching his authority’s code of conduct in 2006.
He was told by then Ombudsman Adam Peat to write letters of apology to the council’s then head of environment services and a junior member of staff. He escaped a potential six-month suspension.
Cllr Scully would not comment to the Argus yesterday.
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