Source: Radio New Zealand
First-term Dunedin councillor Benedict Ong. Supplied
First-term Dunedin councillor Benedict Ong has been asked to resign by his colleagues for breaching the code of conduct.
Ong criticised a council staff member in an email to the council’s chief executive and two local journalists last month.
An independent investigation found he seriously breached the Dunedin City Council’s code of conduct.
The council this morning endorsed the investigation’s finding and agreed to sanction Mr Ong.
Mayor Sophie Barker asked him to resign – a motion supported by a vast majority of councillors.
Ong was given an opportunity to speak, describing what was happening as “my trial” before reading an excerpt from Franz Kafka’s The Trial – a book where a man was accused of a crime he did not commit.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand