BRYN PARRY-JONES lost his temper, and threatened to hire in a private investigator to find out who was leaking information to The Herald, it was revealed on Saturday night (August 9).

Cllr. Jacob Williams has revealed on his website, jacobwilliams.com, that on May 13, the chairman of the Audit Committee, John Evans MBE, was summoned to see Parry-Jones at an emergency meeting.

It was in response to the story he had read on the front page of The Pembrokeshire Herald, Cllr. Williams said.
The East Williamston member wrote: “The Pembrokeshire Herald ran comprehensive coverage of the tampering scandal, and highlighted that these documents could be key pieces of evidence in an impending criminal investigation.”

He added: “The Herald dubbed the then unnamed officer the ‘minutes meddler’ – and featured the scandal in great detail over numerous editions, detailing the extent of the alterations to several documents, and citing statute which suggests the officer’s alterations constituted a criminal offence in its own right.”

Bryn Parry-Jones held up this edition and demanded to know who leaked information, according to John Evans MBE

In our May 9 edition under the headline ‘MINUTES MEDDLER UNMASKED,’ we revealed the identity of the council officer who had tampered with the grant panel meeting minutes, and also disclosed that the disciplinary process into the officer’s actions had resulted in just a written warning – one of the lowest sanctions possible.

Cllr. Williams says on his website that a letter between John Evans MBE and council leader Cllr. Jamie Adams reveals that Bryn Parry-Jones “held aloft a copy of the Pembrokeshire Herald and demanded to know who present had disclosed to the newspaper the name of the Officer who had tampered with the CPGS Grant minutes.”

The letter has been forwarded to all members of the Audit Committee by John Evans.

Cllr. Williams continued: “The Chief Executive stated that the only people to know the identity of the Officer were those present at the meeting bar one who was away on business and this unprecedented situation required immediate resolution.”

According to the letter Parry-Jones then “requested that those responsible own up then and there”, and after nobody did own up, he “threatened to engage a private investigator to investigate everyone present if no one would admit to the disclosure of the officers name.”

The full text of the letter can be seen on Cllr. Jacob Williams’ website.

John Evans MBE – resigned as Audit Committee chairman

Mr. Evans claims that this “threat” caused him “great anguish and concern,” as he was “uncertain of the extent of the activities that a private investigator would resort,” and in his letter to Cllr. Adams he questioned whether it could have included “surveillance” and “phone hacking”.

Mr. Parry-Jones is then claimed to have “instructed all present to issue a signed written statement of discussions or meetings during which the identity of the officer could have been revealed.”

Jacob Williams has posted that the meeting “ended in a stunned silence” and left Mr. Evans “shocked at the tone, attitude and hostility of the Chief Executive,” and says that the “hostile nature of the encounter” instigated by Mr. Parry-Jones and such “intimidation” had “violated” and “compromised” the Audit Chairman John Evans’ independence as the committee’s statutory lay member.

Cllr. Williams reports that the Audit Chairman’s no-nonsense letter expresses disappointment that Cllr. Adams failed to contact him following his resignation, and that he felt he was owed a ‘duty of care.’

Mr. Evans told Cllr. Adams that the more appropriate course of action for Mr. Parry-Jones to have taken under the circumstances was a one-to-one meeting, concluding: “Clearly it would appear that such an appropriate manner is below the high office of Chief Executive of Pembrokeshire County Council.”
In an interesting twist, Mr. Evans claims that during his inspection of grant scheme documentation, as well as the tampered minutes he also uncovered significant shortcomings of the Grant administration, control and scrutiny, Cllr. Williams said.

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE ON JACOB WILLIAMS WEBSITE VISIT:
http://jacobwilliams.com/6285/molehunt/