Slough Borough Council has refused to show the Observer a complaint it received raising concerns of bribery.

The Observer had challenged the council’s decision not to publish a letter it received that suggested money had been solicited in return for granting planning permission. But the council argued that it could be sued for breaching the confidence of the person who sent it.

Slough Borough Council said: “The information that is being requested has been provided to the council in confidence and was not provided to the council with the expectation of it being disclosed.”

It also argued that releasing the letter could harm its ‘effective conduct of public affairs'.

READ MORE: bribery accusations 'can be false' says councillor

Slough Borough Council confirmed in April that it had received information ‘expressing concern about soliciting money in order to secure approval for planning permissions'. It said it forwarded that information to the police.

The council says it couldn’t investigate as no individual was named in the complaint. Thames Valley Police later said it had ‘no active investigation’ as it had no evidence to support the allegation.

The Observer asked the council to release the complaint under freedom of information laws, but the council refused. It cited parts of the law that protect commercial information, but also claimed it couldn’t do so because it had passed the complaint to the police.

The Observer then asked the council to review its decision on the basis that there is a strong public interest in releasing the information. In its response, the council did not show it had considered the public interest in releasing the complaint. Instead it made a new argument that it could face legal action for breach of confidence.

It also said that it did not have to publish the complaint as this could ‘prejudice, or would be likely otherwise to prejudice, the effective conduct of public affairs'. It said it couldn’t explain why as this would also involve releasing the information.

READ MORE: Slough councillor says resignation ‘not linked’ to bribery allegations

The Observer has asked the Information Commissioner’s Office to look at the council’s decision.

Slough Borough Council passed the allegations to police on April 2, two weeks before councillor Iftakhar Ahmed resigned from the leading group of councillors – the cabinet – where he was responsible for planning.

His son Adil Iftakhar is also no longer chair of the council’s planning committee.

Councillor Ahmed denies that his resignation was related to the allegations, and was instead due to disagreements with council leader Dexter Smith.