South Wales Evening Post - 6 March 2008
The £19,100 auditor's report into £129 worth of "potentially unlawful" claims by Swansea councillors has been published.
Auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers has recommended no further action be taken over the row.
The company was brought into investigate allegations that councillors had been making improper claims. It found four councillors had wrongly claimed £129.72 and said they should pay the money back.
The four councillors who made the claims which were picked up by the auditor were: Gower councillor Richard Lewis - £68.12; Landore councillor Rob Speht - £37.10; St Thomas councillor Alan Robinson - £18 and Uplands councillor Peter May - £6.50.
PricewaterhouseCoopers-appointed auditor Lynn Hine said in a report on the investigation: "Based on the information before me, it appears to me that the expenditure of £129.72 that we have recommended to be reimbursed by the individual members to the authority is potentially unlawful.
"Due to the small value of the amounts involved and our recommendations that these amounts should be repaid to the authority, I do not propose to take further action other than the issue of this statement."
The investigation was undertaken following a complaint from former Dunvant community councillor Lis Davies.
Councillor Robinson said he would pay back the £18.
"There are things I could have claimed for and never have. I can emphasise there are stamps I have never claimed for. I am sure they are worth more than £18, and there is lots of work I do attending County Hall that, again, I don't claim for.
"The amount of money it has cost, it has got to be swings and roundabouts.
"There's got to be some give and take," he said. "We don't claim every time we attend County Hall."
Councillor May said: "I am actually owed money because I ticked the wrong box when I should have claimed for the hire of a hall for a ward surgery, which totalled £20. I claimed for the mileage to it, which was less."Actually, Lis Davies has saved me £13.50 and put me in credit."
Councillor Speht said he was repaying £37 to Swansea Council. He added: "As a result of the complaint from one member of the public - who has made many complaints to the council and intends to stand as a candidate in May's elections - £20,000 has been spent looking for what she claimed was fraud.
"A total of £129.72 will have to be paid back. This is a crass waste of public money - £20,000 would have paid for another teacher somewhere."
Councillor Lewis said: "I feel that we have all been let down by the treasurer's department - because in the past the treasurer was particularly dedicated to looking at members' claims and if there was an error it would be brought to the councillor's attention and rectified.
"Over this period of time, over four years, I have put in more than 600 claims for expenses.
"Initially Pricewaterhouse wanted £400 paid back. After checking with London, Cardiff and Swansea, I managed to prove that I had attended those particular meetings.
"In the end, it came down to four meetings, two were a mistake and the other two I could not chase around to prove I was at the meeting so it was easier to just pay the £60."
