It is understood the Chief Executive of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, Anne Donaghy, has been suspended.
Journalist Brendan Hughes (Belfast Live) reported that the embattled council chief has “been placed on precautionary suspension while an independent investigation is conducted into complaints raised by some staff.”
Pressure has been mounting over the last months as scrutiny of Ms Donaghy’s decisions and actions surrounding the implantation of the NI Protocol at the Port of Larne, combined with a reported compromising party-political relationship with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), who dominate within the local authority.
Amid accusations of bullying and staff allegations of a toxic culture within the council workplace, the CEO took time off on stress-related sickleave.
It was during Ms Donaghy’s absence that the police conducted a search at the council’s Braid headquarters in Ballymena. Police searched the Chief Executive’s office and it is understood a number of items, including electronic equipment was seized, in what has been touted as ‘the raid at the Braid’.
This week the BBC Spotlight reported on the police action and said that police acted after it was believed staff were ordered to delete emails in connection Ms Donaghy.
We approached MEA Council for comment. A council spokesperson said:
“We do not comment on staffing matters and no inference should be drawn from this.”