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Note of Decision - Case No. LA/Mo/03

Complaint against Councillor John Leslie

1. In this case the complainant alleged misconduct by Councillor John Leslie. Councillor Leslie is an elected member of the Moray Council who have their principal offices in Elgin, Morayshire.

2. The complaint is that sometime after 1st May 2003 Councillor Leslie lied to the Chief Executive of the Council regarding a conversation which Councillor Leslie had had with a neighbour of the complainant's on the morning of 5th April 2003. The lie allegedly amounted to a contravention of the Councillors' Code of Conduct in particular being in breach of the principles of the Code set out in section 2 on Leadership where the Code provides that councillors have a duty to promote and support the principles upon which the Code is based by leadership and example.

3. The complainant has said that Councillor Leslie lied to the Chief Executive during a discussion which had taken place sometime after 1st May 2003. Councillor Leslie has stated that the discussion took place following the meeting of the Council on 30th April 2003 and the Chief Executive agrees with that. The complainant has also conceded that he cannot state that the discussion necessarily took place after 1st May 2003.

4. I have therefore concluded that the discussion took place on 30th April 2003 and that, as the Councillors' Code of Conduct only came into effect on 1st May 2003, there was no breach of the Code.

5. Having said that I should add that even if the discussion had taken place after 1st May 2003 as alleged by the complainant (which I am not in a position to find) I would not have concluded that the allegations could reasonably have been regarded as amounting to a contravention of the Code.

6. Accordingly, I have decided that Councillor Leslie has not contravened the Councillors' Code of Conduct in terms of this complaint and I find accordingly.

D Stuart Allan,
Chief Investigating Officer.
Forsyth House
Innova Campus
Rosyth Europarc
Rosyth
Fife
KY11 2UU
21st October 2003