Borough council to pursue legal claim over payments made to ex-chief executive

Mr Marchant was said to have set his own performance related pay and to have manipulated a system for buying back days of annual leave.

Leader David Blackwell, who took over after the events in question, said: “Following consideration of the report to full council and advice from the council’s legal advisers, council has taken the decision to pursue recovery of £281,155 paid to the late chief executive as additional payments to the flexible retirement scheme through annual leave buy back and the performance related pay which the late chief executive awarded to himself.”

A council report said its legal adviser Bevan Brittan had put the potential legal costs at some £100,000.

Cllr Blackwell said the council had written off a further £872,173 “of which there is no reasonable prospect of recovery”.

He said he had been “deeply angered by what happened in the past”, and safeguards had been put in place.

An earlier report said auditors had found questionable payments including to “the deceased chief executive’s estate”.

Payments in question “all had unusual elements and were considered by the legal advisers to lack due process and transparency”.

These included Mr Marchant having awarded himself performance related payments “without formal governance sign-off” and improperly accruing time under the leave buy-back system.

Mark Smulian