Let's get a reality check. The person who complained may have thought that he was listening to a routine method used by some to diddle HMG out of some dink. Reasonably, he may have felt righteous indignation and, as an elected public servant, felt that he needed the event investigated. But, in reality, he may have overheard the attempts of a frustrated account settler trying to sort out which were 'official' and which were 'private' calls on an hotel phone bill which was probably about as readable as a table of logarithms - and who might just have wanted to find an easy way out of the tortuous paperwork beloved of the Blunt Ones and was naiively looking for a creative solution to settle up and get away schnell.
But why would there be any phone calls on an hotel bill in the first place? We're supposed to use the Colt calling card for official calls or, if no land line is available, the Captain's GSM phone (and there are GSM networks in Kenya). The Blunt Ones have told us repeatedly that 'official' calls are only to be made from hotel phones in exceptional circumstances - however, I know full well that some people either simply can't be ar$ed to do as they've been told, or consider themselves above such orders.
This seems to have been a quest for a pound of flesh which failed. I don't blame the councillor for this farce - I blame the clumsy attempts by Plod to find Chummy 'Bang to Rights'. If there was any case to answer, why didn't someone just get a grip and say "Silly thing to do - get the money back from whoever owed it and we'll call the matter closed", instead of wasting a ridiculous amount of time and public money on an absurd witch hunt. The obscene pursuit of a hapless individual over such a matter was clearly out of all proportion to the allegations made and whoever made the daft decision to proceed should be hung out to dry!!.
[ 29 September 2001: Message edited by: BEagle ]