A Member of the Senedd who was found to have inappropriately touched two women on a night out has apologised “unreservedly” for his behaviour.
On Wednesday evening the Senedd agreed unanimously to ban Rhys ab Owen from the institution for six weeks.
Mr ab Owen admitted behaving badly and, addressing the Welsh Parliament, said: “I have let you all down.”
But he criticised the process that led to his sanction, which will strip him of his salary while he is suspended.
It is the longest period of time any politician has been banned from the institution.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
On Wednesday evening the Senedd agreed unanimously to ban Rhys ab Owen from the institution for six weeks.
Mr ab Owen said he accepted the “punishment given to me”, but he said he had reservations about the process, complaining about how long it took and a lack of transparency.
The MS for South Wales Central was suspended from Plaid Cymru last week, when the report from the standards committee was published.
The standards commissioner, Douglas Bain, found that Mr ab Owen had inappropriately touched two women on a night out with Plaid Cymru staff and other MSs, and swore at them.
Mr ab Owen said one individual - referring to the standards commissioner Douglas Bain - “should not be the investigator and finder of fact”.
The BBC understands much of the committee’s time had been taken with dealing with legal issues raised by Mr ab Owen.
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