"Shockingly unfair" - first criticism emerges of £23m care inquiry

Wednesday 02 August 2017

One of Jersey's most senior politicians has described the Care Inquiry's allegations of lying by Deputy Andrew Lewis as "shockingly unfair," and designed to get a "cheap headline" which was "utterly careless of the effect...on Deputy Lewis and his family."

The comments came from the External Relations Minister Senator Sir Philip Bailhache, who was speaking in defence of Deputy Lewis at a public meeting yesterday of the States' committee charged with overseeing the conduct of Members.

The hearing took place in front of more than fifty members of the public, with extra chairs needed to seat the audience, which included a handful of States members and other key figures in the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry Report, such as the former Senator and Health Minister, Stuart Syvret. 

Deputy Andrew Lewis had been singled out by the Care Inquiry (IJCI) and accused of lying both to the States and to the Inquiry itself during his time as Minister for Home Affairs in 2008 - a charge he strongly refuted.

Assisted by Senator Sir Philip Bailhache, Deputy Andrew Lewis appeared in front of the States' Privileges and Procedures Committee (PPC) so that they could decide whether he breached the States Members’ Code of Conduct.

The hearing was opened by St Clement Constable Len Norman, who said: “What matters to the Committee is whether, during the course of his time as a States Member, throughout his dealings with the IJCI and his responses to the Assembly, Deputy Lewis’ actions complied with the Code. In other words, we will be determining whether his actions maintained and strengthened the public’s trust and confidence in the integrity of the States and its members or not.”

The Care Inquiry Report alleged that Deputy Lewis lied on three occasions related to the suspension of the former Police Chief Graham Power in 2008 while he was acting as Home Affairs Minister, over the alleged mismanagement of ‘Operation Rectangle’ - an investigation into abuse allegations at notorious children’s home Haut de la Garenne - by Mr Power and his deputy, Lenny Harper.

The majority of the hearing focussed on whether Deputy Lewis misled the States in a private debate in 2008, when he said he had read a critical report on the conduct of Operation Rectangle, before suspending Mr Power. It's claimed he meant the Metropolitan Police report into the affair, which would have been untrue, and misleading to States Members - instead, he had actually only seen a summary of that report written by the Deputy Chief of the States Police David Warcup. Deputy Lewis maintains he meant to say he had read the Warcup summary report, but simply wasn't clear in the words he used. 

That comment has lead to almost a decade of allegations about an alleged conspiracy to remove Mr Power, because he was investigating child abuse. 

The IJCI report then used it as their basis of the allegation that Deputy Lewis had lied to the States. “We find that Andrew Lewis lied to the States Assembly about the Metropolitan Police Service report, stating that he had sight of it when he had not. We can readily see why these acts have given rise to public suspicion that all or some of those involved were acting improperly and that they were motivated by a wish to discredit or close down investigations into child abuse.”

Senator Bailhache described that treatment of Deputy Lewis “shockingly unfair” and that they “publically branded [him] a liar” without giving him an opportunity to refute the claims. He said it was a "puzzle" as to why Deputy Lewis had been singled out for such a strong allegation as lying to the States. 

Senator Bailhache said: "His [Deputy Lewis'] reputation has been sullied and without having had the opportunity to be heard and to rebut the accusation. It made a cheap headline, but the Panel was utterly careless of the effect of their words upon Deputy Lewis and his family. Their treatment of him was shockingly unfair."

Senator Bailhache asked Constable Norman, whether Deputy Lewis would be told exactly how he was alleged to have breached the Code - Constable Norman replied that he would only be told if they found that the Code had been breached. 

Deputy Lewis said: "There is simply no case where I have broken the Code of Conduct." He described his time as Minister for Home Affairs as "extraordinarily challenging" before adding: "I am very clear that I did not intentionally deceive the States."

Closing his speech, Deputy Lewis said: "I am looking forward to moving on from what has been a very unhappy chapter in my political and personal life."

Deputy Lewis denies that he lied and has since temporarily resigned as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) earlier this month in order to clear his name following the allegations.

Following the hearing, Deputy Lewis told Express: "I am grateful to the PPC for giving me the chance to put forward my case. I am quite clear that I did not breach the Code of Conduct and I hope that the PPC will find that to be the case."