A FORMER college lecturer claims he was victimised after blowing the whistle on an alleged culture of fraud and intimidation, a tribunal heard yesterday.

Malcolm Thew, pictured, of Cefn Glas, Tredegar, also says his former employers, Coleg Gwent, caused him to suffer a breakdown as a result of "stress" and "anxiety" he suffered after he was suspended following his calls for an internal investigation, the employment tribunal at Cardiff was told.

Coleg Gwent denies the allegations and claims Mr Thew was eventually sacked from his job in the IT department of the Nash campus, Newport, in December 2000 because he bullied junior members of staff.

But Mr Thew, 47, claims senior management at Coleg Gwent colluded to get rid of him after he exposed the alleged "deception" of his superior, Huw Tovey, who was section head of the IT department.

Mr Thew told the tribunal: "In January 1999 Mr Tovey became the main topic of discussion in the staff room.

"He (Tovey) was drinking during working hours and was forcing full and part-time lecturers to cover his classes.

"It was clear that a lot of staff feared Mr Tovey - if you crossed him and you were a part-timer he would slash your hours.

"In September 1999 the situation was becoming surreal, after the husband of Peggy Beese, who was the section head of secretarial services, turned up at the campus to find Mr Tovey, as he had run off with his wife.

"Mr Beese had four of his brothers block the exits while he came looking for Mr Tovey but he managed to escape to another block.

"Both Mr Tovey and Mrs Beese were then given a paid week off work so things could cool down."

Mr Thew claimed that Mr Tovey also routinely claimed for overtime which he hadn't worked.

Mr Thew told the tribunal there existed a culture within the IT department in which some lecturers would gamble with students, course work would be hidden from visiting moderators because it was not up to scratch and students' tuition would be neglected.

Former IT lecturer Mr Thew told the tribunal he made his allegations to the faculty manager and the campus director. Eventually this led to auditors from Ernst and Young conducting an investigation.

Mr Thew claimed at the tribunal that Mr Tovey was later found guilty of 53 counts of fraud as a result of that investigation.

The tribunal heard that Mr Tovey resigned in May 2000.

The same month, Mr Thew and his colleague and partner in whistle-blowing, Don Wilson, discovered they were being investigated by the college regarding allegations that they had bullied staff - allegations that Mr Thew claims were fabricated by management to get rid of him.

He was then suspended.

Proceeding