THE chief executive of Powys County Council was reported to the public spending watchdog by colleagues who feared he acted improperly over his wife's salary.

The Wales Audit Office (WAO) cleared Jeremy Patterson of any wrongdoing but did find the council had failed to keep a proper record of its decisions and meetings - a finding the WAO said echoed a report it had issued about the council in 2010.

Mr Patterson, the council's most senior officer, faced allegations that he used his involvement in a job evaluation process and ensured his wife, Elizabeth a council scrutiny officer, would either benefit financially or not lose pay as a result of being placed on a lower pay grading.

The WAO said it could find no evidence of 'any bias or improper influence' by Mr Patterson but criticised the council for failing to keep a complete record of how it reached decisions.

It also criticised the council's whistle-blowing procedures and acknowledged the allegations had been brought to it at a time the council was making redundancies, including a reorganisation of senior staff.

The watchdog has now issued a report into its findings that also found a controversial decision to allow the council's former strategic director of law and governance, Clarence Meredith, to leave the council with a full pension and on redundancy terms no longer available to the majority of council staff had been made appropriately.

Councillor Aled Davies, chairman of the council's audit committee said it had agreed to make the report public and an action plan is being drawn up in response to the points raised by the WAO.

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