- Darebin Council CEO Rasiah Dev sues one of his councillors
- By Clay Lucas
- 02/06/2015 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: MrNatural ( 11 articles in 2015 )
Darebin Council chief executive Rasiah Dev
The chief executive of Darebin Council is suing one of his own councillors for defamation, in the latest sign of instability at the inner north municipality.
Chief executive Rasiah Dev confirmed on Monday that he had commenced legal proceedings against Cr Gaetano Greco, who could not be reached for comment.
It is believed Mr Dev is taking the unusual legal action against the councillor over a flyer distributed at a union rally last month, but this could not be confirmed by either Mr Dev or the council on Monday.
An internal email from Mr Dev, seen by The Age, says he has "an ongoing dispute with Cr Greco concerning an action in defamation. My lawyers have written to him and he has responded in an unsatisfactory way. Accordingly, I have briefed a QC to take this to the next step".
A council spokesman said that any legal action taken by Mr Dev "would be paid for out of his own money and not that of ratepayers".
Darebin is under investigation over Mr Dev's appointment, and the manner in which his annual salary of almost $400,000 was awarded. Local Government Minister Natalie Hutchins recently put the council on notice that Mayor Steven Tsitas was also under investigation for the way Mr Dev's pay packet was awarded.
A spokesman for Ms Hutchins said that the minister took "the issue of council governance seriously". But he did not respond when asked if Darebin Council had Ms Hutchins' full confidence.
Chief executive Rasiah Dev confirmed on Monday that he had commenced legal proceedings against Cr Gaetano Greco, who could not be reached for comment.
It is believed Mr Dev is taking the unusual legal action against the councillor over a flyer distributed at a union rally last month, but this could not be confirmed by either Mr Dev or the council on Monday.
An internal email from Mr Dev, seen by The Age, says he has "an ongoing dispute with Cr Greco concerning an action in defamation. My lawyers have written to him and he has responded in an unsatisfactory way. Accordingly, I have briefed a QC to take this to the next step".
A council spokesman said that any legal action taken by Mr Dev "would be paid for out of his own money and not that of ratepayers".
Darebin is under investigation over Mr Dev's appointment, and the manner in which his annual salary of almost $400,000 was awarded. Local Government Minister Natalie Hutchins recently put the council on notice that Mayor Steven Tsitas was also under investigation for the way Mr Dev's pay packet was awarded.
A spokesman for Ms Hutchins said that the minister took "the issue of council governance seriously". But he did not respond when asked if Darebin Council had Ms Hutchins' full confidence.
Source: https://www.theage.com.au/victoria/darebin-council-ceo-rasiah-dev-sues-one-of-his-councillors-20150601-gheapq
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