South Wales Evening Post - 9 December 2006
A Swansea councillor has been cleared of breaking council rules after an investigation carried out by the Local Government Ombudsman.
Penllergaer Councillor Wendy Fitzgerald has been told there is no case to answer after she was reported to ombudsman Adam Peat over an alleged breach of rules.
She was accused of a breaking the council code of conduct over the award of a £1 million pound contract.
Councillor Ray Welsby reported the deal, saying that Councillor Fitzgerald knew the successful bidder, and should have declared an interest in the deal.
However, Mr Peat said: "It is clear that the tender evaluation was concluded by the time Councillor Fitzgerald had been elected to sit on the council.
"Crucially, when she presented the report to cabinet following her appointment as the cabinet member for social services, she would not have been aware of the identity of the successful tenderer due to the anonymisation of the report," he added.
Swansea Council's legal team advised Councillor Welsby not to report the matter because Councillor Fitzgerald had not been involved in the tendering process.
She agreed that the case should never have gone to the ombudsman.
She said: "The whole thing was a lot of nonsense, but this is the way Councillor Welsby works.
"If you make an accusation, you should make sure you have your facts right. 'You should also listen to the advice you are given by professionals."
