South Wales Evening Post - 26 October 2006
Swansea Council has finally confirmed it has been given details of a mystery tape by South Wales Police.
The authority has admitted it was given a transcript of a taped telephone conversation understood to contain serious allegations against senior council people.
But it said that, after a thorough investigation by council officers, no evidence of any wrongdoing had been found.
The Post revealed the tape's existence last week, but Swansea Council refused to answer questions on the issue for more than a fortnight.
Sources told the Post the tape allegedly contained conversations between senior council people talking about land deals and corporate kick-backs.
It also allegedly included a conversation on the needs for councillors to declare an interest when discussing deals.
A source at South Wales Police told the Post: "The council has been given a copy of the tape's contents and is currently looking at what is said."
He added it had not been confirmed who was on the tape, but senior council figures were understood to have had a good idea of their identity.
A council spokesman confirmed officers had passed information to the police related to the tape.
But he stressed that there was no evidence of any wrongdoing.
He said: "The police gave the council a transcript of an anonymous telephone conversation.
"The matter has been thoroughly examined by the council's corporate complaints team and the monitoring officer, who have concluded there is no substance to any of the allegations.
"We will be forwarding our findings to police."
The Post is planning to submit a Freedom of Information request to obtain a copy of the transcript.
