30.06.2004

ASLEF: Publish everything

Dean Hooper calls for accountability in Aslef

The long awaited Kelly report into Aslef’s finances, commissioned by the left-dominated executive committee, has been delivered and subsequently leaked to the ‘quality’ press. The EC commissioned Mathias Kelly QC to look back over the last 10 years as a response to claims from the incoming Blairite general secretary, Shaun Brady, of financial irregularities under his leftwing predecessor, Mick Rix. Brady had claimed that unauthorised payments were made to Rix and his head office manager, Debbie Dwight, who just happens to be Rix’s partner.

Unsurprisingly, the Kelly inquiry, as reported in The Guardian of June 29, seems to take a diametrically opposite view on just about everything to the earlier report commissioned by Brady. The suspended general secretary had appointed rightwing Labourite and financial ‘expert’ Paul Blagbrough to look at the charges against Rix, while Kelly, by contrast, works for leftwing lawyer John Hendy, an ally of Rix.

Kelly’s report comes down heavily against Brady and his supporters, if the Guardian extracts are to be believed. Kelly states that Brady handled the union’s staff “aggressively and insensitively”. The report goes on to accuse him of having “deliberately engaged in a power struggle, which was to the detriment of the union”.

The document looks into the accusations of missing money and the severance payments made to Rix and Dwight. This formed the core of the charges levelled by Brady and formed the basis of the Blagbrough report. Kelly finds that the severance payments made to Rix and Dwight were “properly authorised, legal and justified”. 

Accountants engaged by Kelly to look into Aslef’s books are said to have found that the financial deficit during Rix’s final year of office - claimed by Brady to be £900,000 - was in fact £129,000, and over Rix’s five years of office there was actually a surplus of £969,000!

Kelly also looked into accusations that Rix and his supporters had deliberately sabotaged the working of head office through a “scorched earth” policy just before he left. Kelly engaged computer forensic experts who found that two-thirds of the 64,000 files alleged to have been deleted by Debbie Dwight had actually been removed after she had left. They discovered that an office worker loyal to Brady had installed a system to bypass passwords and Kelly suggests the files were deliberately deleted to smear Dwight and, by association, Rix.

Kelly does criticise the EC and Rix for the way expenses are claimed, citing the lack of evidence required to support them. He proposes that a proper accounting procedure, backed up by receipts, be put in place - a basic and normal practice, you would have thought, but when Brady attempted to put just such a system in place he was overruled by the EC.

Brady, who is reportedly on holiday in Spain, dismissed the Kelly report as “rubbish” when contacted by The Guardian and BBC. He claimed that he had never been formally interviewed for the enquiry - an allegation flatly denied by Kelly, who stated: “I interviewed Mr Brady prior to his suspension.”
The fallout from the ‘battle of the barbecue’ has led to the resignation of the leftwing president, Martin Samways. Samways was one of those suspended after the notorious brawl with Brady. The TUC report into that incident concluded that Samways’ behaviour was “totally unacceptable” and he has now issued a personal statement accepting that his behaviour had brought the union into disrepute. However, he still protests his innocence with regards to an alleged assault on a member of head office staff. Martin is reported to be enjoying himself pottering around the marshalling yards at Doncaster on a shunt engine and spending more time with his family. It remains to be seen whether he will still have to face a disciplinary hearing in front of the EC.

The executive has promised to publish the Kelly report in full. It will send complete copies out to branches and an edited version to individual members. The EC has also agreed that special district council meetings will then be convened to discuss it. Kelly makes over 50 recommendations as to how Aslef should proceed and the full report will undoubtedly make interesting reading.

Everything - Blagbrough, Kelly, the lot - must be made available to the members. Their interests - which must take precedence over those of the rival bureaucratic factions of left and right - demand the complete disclosure of all relevant facts. There must be an end to all secretive practices and full accountability.