Reform Jersey claims Ozouf will offer to resign

Tuesday 17 January 2017

It's being claimed that the politician responsible for the ill-fated Innovation Fund, is to offer to resign as Assistant Chief Minister.

Although Senator Ozouf has circulated a statement on his position to States Members, it hasn't yet actually been read out, so is not yet official. But Reform Jersey Member Deputy Montfort Tadier has tweeted a picture of part of the statement, which suggests Senator Ozouf has offered to resign, so as not to become a "media side-show."

As yet the rest of the statement, or confirmation of the accuracy of Deputy Tadier's tweet isn't available. 

Last week the States' spending watchdog published an exceptionally critical report of how the Fund had been set up and managed, 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.

Senator Philip Ozouf is politically responsible for the Fund, but he has so far declined to resign saying that it was the civil servants who were really at fault, and that actually he was brought in, in 2015, to sort it all out - but why it actually took an investigation in January 2017 by the Comptroller and Auditor General to publicly reveal the serious problems with the Fund has so far not emerged. 

A public protest calling for him to resign has been organised today at 12:30 in the Royal Square by the St Helier Waterfront Action Group, and Senator Ozouf is also due to make a statement on the Fund to the States today. Privately States members, including fellow ministers, are speculating that he will use that platform to step down. 

Two weeks ago, the erstwhile Chief Officer of the Economic Development Department Mike King, who was the Fund's Accounting Officer - and therefore directly responsible for it - resigned, although no mention was made at the time of the Innovation Fund. 

Senator Ozouf has been politically responsible for the Fund since 2015, but the man in overall charge of the actions of civil servants is actually the States' Chief Executive, John Richardson.