Ozouf resigns

Tuesday 17 January 2017

One of Jersey's most senior politicians is to offer his resignation as Assistant Chief Minister following the recent scandal over the Innovation Fund, describing the issue as "chaos" and a "nightmare."

For the last few days, Senator Philip Ozouf has been fighting for his political future, arguing that serious deficiencies in the way the Fund was set-up and managed were actually the responsibility of civil servants and the Fund's Advisory Board. He also implied other political resignations might be on the way.

Last week the States' spending watchdog published an exceptionally critical report of the Fund, suggesting that up to £1.4million of taxpayers' money is now overdue on the loans which have been made in a bid to stimulate the economy - and might not be repaid.

In a dramatic morning in the States Assembly, Senator Ozouf revised his previous refusal to resign, and gave a statement saying he would write to the Chief Minister offering his resignation as Assistant Chief Minister, so that he wouldn't become a "media side-show" and saying he was fully accountable for the period he was responsible for the Fund, which was from January 2016 - the Fund was actually set up several years before that. 

But even that resignation speech was not straightforward - Reform Jersey tweeted a picture of the statement, thereby leaking the news, more than an hour before Senator Ozouf actually delivered it. 

The Chief Minister, Senator Ian Gorst, also said he would step down from his position, if a forthcoming review into whether there were political failings surrounding the Fund points the finger at him too. 

In his statement, Senator Ozouf said that responsibility for the Fund was "chaos" in 2015, and he was not given accurate information relating to what was actually happening - he said that at one point it just wasn't clear who was responsible for the Fund, saying he had been given responsibility for innovation, but not for the Innovation Fund itself. He argued he was unable to do his job, and described the situation as a "nightmare."

He claimed he only actually became responsible for the Fund in January 2016, after which no more new loans were made - although the outstanding sum on a previously agreed loan was still paid - and he suggested that his resignation might not be the last:

"I will answer for all of the actions during my time of political responsibility (for the Fund)  but it is for others, perhaps, to do likewise."

In an emotional statement, Senator Ozouf said he had often expressed his concerns about the way the Fund was run:

"Fundamentally Ministers can only act on the advice that they are given. When that advice is not comprehensive, or potentially misleading, or a timely response to  concerns is not forthcoming, then Ministers or Assistant Ministers cannot exercise their duties efficiently."

"Members of the public deserve to know who did what and when...I have no wish to be a distraction or media side-show during this review period. I am prepared to stand-up and be counted, and to be held to account. I can sleep at night, safe in the knowledge that I did everything I could to resolve the issues I found when I eventually inherited the full responsibility for the Fund."

Until his resignation, Senator Ozouf was the Assistant Chief Minister responsible for Innovation, Digital, Competition and Financial Services. 

You can read Senator Ozouf's full resignation statement here.