The confidential report the Labour Welsh Government doesn’t want you to see

The following is a press release sent to us by Neil McEvoy AM:

Second attempt to reveal hidden inquiry surrounding politician’s suicide.

The independent Assembly Member, Neil McEvoy has launched a fresh attempt at forcing the Welsh Government to publish a report that it’s trying to keep buried.

“It’s time the Welsh Government came clean and released the inquiry into the handling of Carl Sargeant’s sacking” the AM for South Wales Central said.

Mr Sargeant was a Minister in the Labour Welsh Government before being fired in 2017 over allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards women. The First Minister at the time, Carwyn Jones, dismissed him from government and suspended him from the Labour party. Mr Sargeant took his own life just days later.

At the time of Mr Sargeant’s sacking the allegations had not been investigated, proven, reported to the police, or even written down.

As a result of the controversy the former First Minister announced a public inquiry into the scandal and also announced his plans to resign. The inquiry was completed over a year ago but the Labour Government has kept it secret and refused to allow other Assembly Members and the public to see it.

Release the report

In 2018 Neil McEvoy AM first attempted to force publication of the report, submitting a motion calling for the National Assembly to use a little known and never before used power in the Government of Wales Act 2006.

Section 37 of the Act allows the National Assembly to force publication of any document held by a person, including the hidden inquiry. The Conservative Group in the National Assembly didn’t wait for Mr McEvoy’s motion to be debated and instead rushed an identical motion through the Assembly, which led to the Labour Welsh Government taking the extraordinary step of threatening legal action to try to stop the vote. The vote still went ahead but the motion was lost after Labour and the Liberal Democrats voted against it, in order to keep the report hidden.

Unlawful behaviour

But a year after the vote was lost, the High Court in London ruled that the former First Minister, Carwyn Jones, had acted unlawfully in the way he made arrangements for the inquiry into Carl Sargeant’s death. That ruling led to calls by the Labour AM Alun Davies for the Government to release the hidden leak inquiry, meaning there may now be a majority of Assembly Members who would vote for the inquiry to be published.

Fresh opportunity for publication

Mr McEvoy AM has now sent a new No Named Day Motion to the Assembly’s Business Committee calling for Section 37 of the Government of Wales Act to be used to force publication. The Business Committee is made up of a member from each the Assembly’s political groups and decides what votes go ahead. After an initial discussion the Business Committee has agreed to return to the issue, with a view to taking the motion forward, after Easter.

“It’s time for the report to released,” Mr McEvoy said after the Business Committee first discussed his motion. “The National Assembly under the last First Minister became a place of secrecy and scandal. Things have gotten so bad that we’ve now got the High Court in London ruling that Wales’ former First Minister behaved unlawfully.

“It’s really essential that the new First Minister, Mark Drakeford, commits to full transparency and openness. But if he won’t release the report, then the National Assembly can take matters into its own hands by voting for my motion to force the Government to release the hidden inquiry.”

Were lobbyists involved?

The controversy surrounding the publication of the report centres on whether a corporate lobbying firm had prior knowledge of Mr Sargeant’s sacking before he was told himself. Corporate lobbyists are paid money by their clients to give them information and to try to influence governments to make laws that will benefit them.

The former leader of the Conservatives in Wales, Andrew RT Davies, claimed under privilege that the leak inquiry heard evidence that the lobbying firm Deryn knew about the sacking and told journalists, before the sacking had actually taken place.

But without publication of the secret report it’s impossible to know whether that was the case.

Mr McEvoy said “the Welsh Government needs to come out of the shadows. We’re meant to be building a modern and open democracy in Wales. People are losing trust in politics and it’s little wonder when Labour operates like this.

Yr adroddiad cyfrinachol nad yw Llywodraeth Lafur Cymru eisiau i chi ei weld

Ail ymgais i ddatgelu’r ymchwiliad cudd ynghylch hunanladdiad gwleidydd

Mae’r Aelod Cynulliad annibynnol, Neil McEvoy wedi lansio ymgais o’r newydd i orfodi Llywodraeth Cymru i gyhoeddi adroddiad y mae’n ceisio gadw ynghudd.

“Mae’n bryd i Lywodraeth Cymru fod yn onest a rhyddhau’r ymchwiliad i’r modd y triniwyd diswyddo Carl Sargeant” meddai AC Canol De Cymru.

Yr oedd Mr Sargeant yn Weinidog yn Llywodraeth Lafur Cymru cyn cael ei ddiswyddo yn 2017 dros honiadau o ymddygiad amhriodol tuag at fenywod. Diswyddodd y Prif Weinidog ar y pryd, Carwyn Jones, ef o’i lywodraeth a’i atal o’r blaid Lafur. Cymerodd Mr Sargeant ei fywyd ei hun rai dyddiau’n ddiweddarach.

Adeg diswyddo Mr Sargeant, ni chynhaliwyd unrhyw ymchwiliad i’r honiadau; ni chawsant eu profi, rhoi adroddiad amdanynt i’r heddlu, na hyd yn oed gael eu hysgrifennu.

O ganlyniad i’r achos dadleuol, cyhoeddodd y cyn-Brif Weinidog ymchwiliad cyhoeddus i’r sgandal a chyhoeddodd hefyd ei gynlluniau i ymddiswyddo. Cwblhawyd yr ymchwiliad dros flwyddyn yn ôl, ond mae’r Llywodraeth Lafur wedi ei gadw’n ddirgel ac wedi gwrthod i Aelodau Cynulliad eraill a’r cyhoedd ei weld.

Rhyddhewch yr adroddiad

Yn 2018 gwnaeth Neil McEvoy AC ei ymgais gyntaf i orfodi cyhoeddi’r adroddiad, gan gyflwyno cynnig yn gofyn i’r Cynulliad Cenedlaethol ddefnyddio pŵer yn Neddf Llywodraeth Cymru 2006 nad oedd llawer yn gwybod amdano a nas defnyddiwyd erioed o’r blaen.

Mae Adran 37 y Ddeddf yn caniatáu i’r Cynulliad Cenedlaethol orfodi cyhoeddi unrhyw ddogfen a ddelir gan unigolyn, gan gynnwys yr ymchwiliad cudd. Ni wnaeth y Grŵp Ceidwadol yn y Cynulliad Cenedlaethol aros i gynnig Mr McEvoy gael ei drafod; yn hytrach, fe wnaethant ruthro cynnig oedd yr un fath yn union trwy’r Cynulliad, a arweiniodd at i Lywodraeth Lafur Cymru gymryd y cam anhygoel o fygwth camau cyfreithiol i geisio atal y bleidlais. Aeth y bleidlais rhagddi, ond collwyd y cynnig wedi i Lafur a’r Democratiaid Rhyddfrydol bleidleisio yn ei erbyn, er mwyn cadw’r adroddiad ynghudd.

Ymddygiad anghyfreithlon

Ond flwyddyn wedi i’r bleidlais gael ei cholli, dyfarnodd yr Uchel Lys yn Llundain fod y cyn-Brif Weinidog, Carwyn Jones, wedi gweithredu’n anghyfreithlon yn y ffordd y gwnaeth drefniadau ar gyfer yr ymchwiliad i farwolaeth Carl Sargeant. Arweiniodd y dyfarniad hwnnw at alwadau gan yr AC Llafur Alun Davies ar i’r Llywodraeth ryddhau’r ymchwiliad cudd i ollwng yr hanes, sy’n golygu y gall fod yn awr fwyafrif o Aelodau Cynulliad fyddai’n pleidleisio dros gyhoeddi’r ymchwiliad.

Cyfle o’r newydd i gyhoeddi

Mae Mr McEvoy AC yn awr wedi anfon Cynnig Heb Ddyddiad Trafod newydd at Bwyllgor Busnes y Cynulliad yn galw am ddefnyddio Adran 37 Deddf Llywodraeth Cymru er mwyn gorfodi cyhoeddi. Ffurfir y Pwyllgor Busnes o aelod o bob un o grwpiau gwleidyddol y Cynulliad, a hwy sy’n penderfynu pa bleidleisiau fydd yn mynd gerbron. Wedi trafodaeth gychwynnol, cytunodd y Pwyllgor Busnes ddychwelyd at y mater, gyda’r bwriad o fynd â’r cynnig gerbron, wedi’r Pasg.

“Mae’n bryd rhyddhau’r adroddiad,” meddai Mr McEvoy y tro cyntaf wedi i’r Pwyllgor Busnes drafod ei gynnig. “Daeth y Cynulliad Cenedlaethol dan y Prif Weinidog diwethaf yn lle llawn cyfrinachedd a sgandal. Mae pethau wedi mynd cynddrwg fod yr Uchel Lys yn Llundain wedi dyfarnu fod cyn-Brif Weinidog Cymru wedi ymddwyn yn groes i’r gyfraith. Mae’n hynod bwysig fod y Prif Weinidog newydd, Mark Drakeford, yn ymrwymo’n llwyr i dryloywder llawn a bod yn hollol agored. Ond oni fydd yn rhyddhau’r adroddiad, yna gall y Cynulliad Cenedlaethol gymryd materion i’w dwylo eu hunain trwy bleidleisio dros fy nghynnig i i orfodi’r Llywodraeth i ryddhau’r ymchwiliad cudd.”

A oedd lobïwyr yn rhan o’r peth?

Mae’r dadleuon ynghylch cyhoeddi’r adroddiad yn troi ynghylch a oedd gan gwmni lobïo corfforaethol wybodaeth ymlaen llaw am ddiswyddo Mr Sargeant cyn iddo ef ei hun gael gwybod. Mae lobïwyr corfforaethol yn cael arian gan eu cleientiaid i roi gwybodaeth iddynt ac i geisio dylanwadu ar lywodraethau i basio cyfreithiau fydd o fudd iddynt hwy.

Honnodd cyn-arweinydd y Ceidwadwyr under yng Nghymru, Andrew RT Davies, dan fraint seneddol fod yr ymchwiliad i ollwng yr hanes wedi clywed tystiolaeth fod y cwmni lobïo Deryn yn gwybod am y diswyddo ac iddynt roi gwybod i newyddiadurwyr, cyn i’r diswyddo ddigwydd mewn gwirionedd.

Ond heb gyhoeddi’r adroddiad dirgel, mae’n amhosib gwybod ai dyna ddigwyddodd ai peidio.

Dywedodd Mr McEvoy fod “angen i Lywodraeth Cymru ddod allan o’r cysgodion. Rydym i fod yn adeiladu democratiaeth fodern ac agored yng Nghymru. Mae pobl yn colli ffydd mewn gwleidyddiaeth, a does dim syndod pan fo Llafur yn gweithredu fel hyn.