From the blog of Councillor Claire Wright:

“Doubt has been cast over whether a police investigation is still ongoing into a former East Devon councillor, who made the front page of the Daily Telegraph in March 2013 in an undercover sting operation last March (2013).

At the EDDC audit and governance meeting of 26 June, a councillor can be heard on its audio recording, enquiring about the status of the investigation as he understands that Mr Brown went to see the police with his solicitor and was informed that the investigation had concluded.

He adds that several other councillors were also reporting this.

A senior EDDC officer replies that the council believes that the investigation was still live.

But the councillor is insistent that he has heard differently and asks the officer for clarification, appearing to refer to next year’s council elections.

The officer agrees to double check the status of the police investigation.

Here’s the recording – the question comes at about 1:01 – http://www.eastdevon.gov.uk/webasp/recordings/auditgovernance/ag260614recording.mp3

Mr Brown resigned as an EDDC conservative councillor last March, following the publication of the Telegraph undercover sting operation, which has him on camera boasting to journalists posing as developers that if he couldn’t get planning consent nobody could. He added that he wouldn’t do it for peanuts.”

So, who do we believe – and why? And why do some councillors and officers seem to know far more than others about what may or not be happening?

Have all witnesses been interviewed? …

Watch this space …..