Deputy Lewis "disappointed" with finding he's broken States Code of Conduct

Thursday 03 August 2017

Deputy Andrew Lewis says he's "disappointed" the Privileges and Procedures Committee has found he's broken the States Members Code of Conduct.

In a short press release he says: "I am disappointed in the findings announced by PPC that I broke the Code of Conduct for Elected Members on matters that date back to 2008. I have not been advised of any detail as to why the PPC have adjudicated in this way."

He goes on to say: "I have no option open to me but to await the publication of the PPC report, which will be in several weeks time. Until such time I am unable to comment further."

On Wednesday - Privileges and Procedures - a committee of fellow States members who are responsible for the smooth running of the States, including members' conduct held a special meeting to give Deputy Lewis the chance to 'defend' himself over allegations he'd brought the States into disrepute by lying on a number of occassions.

It's claimed that during a States debate in 2008 Deputy Lewis - at the time Home Affairs Minister -  said he had read a critical report on the conduct of Operation Rectangle, before suspending the Police Chief, 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.

It's still not clear why the committee think he broke the Code, if there is an appeal process, or the penalty he's likely to receive.

The committee issued a brief press release yesterday in which the chairman, Constable Len Norman, said: "The committee intends publishing a full explanation of its reasons for reaching this conclusion, indicating the action it will be recommending to the Assembly. However, we realise that Deputy Lewis needed to be advised of its decision at the earliest opportunity, especially given the public interest in this matter and he has been informed of the committee's findings earlier today. The committee will not be issuing any further comment on this matter until its report is published."