Hannan's Call to Order

It's a general rule that whenever politicians start talking in Latin you can be pretty sure they're in quite a lot of trouble.

They often say, for instance, that something is sub judice (by which they mean subject to a current legal procedure) when it is nothing of the kind and all they really want is to avoid talking about it.

Police inquiry: Mike German stepped aside

In recent days the key phrase has been prima facie (in lawyer-speak pronounced primer facee) which means nothing more mysterious than "at first sight."

It's normally used at the stage of criminal proceedings when lawyers think that, on the face of it, there is at least a case to answer.

That there are good reasons (but not necessarily conclusive ones) to believe that an offence might have been committed.

This was the expression pulled out of the hat on a number of occasions by the First Minister, Rhodri Morgan, when arguing why his deputy, Mike German, should not temporarily stand aside from his job, even though Mr German was subject to a police investigation.

The time would come, Mr Morgan said, when the police decided there was a prima facie case.

Police statement

At the same time there was another important word involved in Mr Morgan's defence of this position.

This time it was English and it was the adjective "formal".

There was, he said, no "formal" police investigation going on and until there was Mr German should stay where he was.

It was for these reasons that people got so excited about a statement from the police which provided details of the officers who were looking into the allegations against Mr German during his time as head of the European unit of the Welsh examinations board, the WJEC.

First Minister Rhodri Morgan defended his coalition colleague

"Ah ha," some people said at once.

"This means the nature of the investigation has changed. It is now 'formal' and so Mike German has to go, pronto."

In fact it meant nothing of the kind.

Nothing had changed as far as the investigation was concerned, but nevertheless the statement was significant for another reason.

What it did was reveal the mistaken way in which the procedures had been presented ever since the relevant auditors' report was sent to the police in May.

At the heart of it is this: Since there is no such thing as an "informal" police investigation the idea that there was a stage when it would become "formal" was wrong.

Nor is it for the police to decide whether there is a prima facie case, or to make judgements on whether there should be a prosecution.

Entirely mistaken

That is a question for the Crown Prosecution Service, to whom the police will report the results of their investigation.

In other words this whole argument has been conducted on the basis of an entirely mistaken view of the procedures involved.

Nevertheless the announcement of the names of which police officers would be looking into the case was significant.

It drew attention once again to the difficulty Mr Morgan and Mr German had been in all along.

Should Mr German stand aside because there was an investigation under way?

The first time the answer was "no", the second time it was "yes".

It was, too, a process given irresistible momentum by one of the Liberal Democrats' most distinguished lawyers, Lord Carlile QC, who said publicly that Mr German should stand aside.

It was a conclusion the coalition administration struggled desperately to avoid because they knew that, in such circumstances, even complete innocence is not always enough.

The accusations in themselves, whatever the outcome, put an obstacle in the way of Mr German's return.

He might think of another Latin legal saying: De minimis non curat lex - the law doesn't concern itself with the smallest things.

Maybe not, but politicians do.

Patrick Hannan's weekly political programme, Called to Order, is live on Radio Wales, 93-104FM, 882 and 657AM, and DSat channel 867.

You can also listen to BBC Radio Wales live online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/live/rwv5.ram.

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