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The senior civil servant who stepped away from the ferry tender process last month after a social media "blunder" has criticised the Government for not making it clear that the delayed decision was not his fault.
In emails made public in response to a request made under the Freedom of Information Law, Economy Chief Richard Corrigan told Ministers he felt "badly let down" by their failure to publicly communicate the reasons behind the delay in Jersey communicating its preferred provider.
Concerns over a possible conflict of interest were first raised in October when it emerged that Mr Corrigan had voted for DFDS in a Facebook poll – and further fuelled when Mr Corrigan was also spotted on LinkedIn congratulating DFDS on an award prior to the tender process officially opening.
As a result, Mr Corrigan "recused" himself from any further involvement in the ferry tender.
He was replaced as Senior Reporting Officer in the process by the Chief Officer of the Infrastructure Department, Andy Scate.
Pictured: A poll in the Condor Ferries User Group asked, "Who do I want to be awarded the Ferry Contract?"
But it has now emerged that Mr Corrigan was critical of the Government's response to media queries about the process – claiming that this had "left an open position for media to speculate" that the delay was caused by him.
Writing to Deputy Lyndon Farnham and Deputy Kirsten Morel on 6 November, Mr Corrigan said: "I feel badly let down by the failure to establish a clear narrative with media over the delayed decision-making on future sea connectivity.
"This has left an open position for media to speculate that the reason for delay is down to my recusal and most recently, to imply some form of bias towards one of the bidders: yesterday’s column in the JEP was the final straw in terms of cumulative impact on my personal well-being."
He added: "Public servants are generally muzzled and unable to directly express our positions to media or the public at large and there is a need for our political leads to do this where they feel able.
"Failing that, I look forward to my time coming around under privilege of a future scrutiney [sic] hearing."
Deputy Morel was grilled over the ferry tender process by the Economic Development Scrutiny Panel on 19 November and asked why Deputy Morel why Mr Corrigan was not in attendance.
Deputy Tadier stated that Mr Corrigan "was invited" to the hearing, adding: "He is not here today. Is there a reason for that?"
Deputy Morel replied: "Richard Corrigan is on sick leave. I do not really want to go any further into that, because that is entirely personal."
Video: Mr Corrigan said he "look[ed] forward" to being able give evidence at a Scrutiny hearing, but was not able to attend a hearing dedicated to the turbulent ferry tender process on 19 November.
He added: "I am concerned about some of the media coverage. As someone who is on leave for those reasons, I am concerned that excessive media coverage may be difficult."
Deputy Tadier replied: "We would not want somebody who is on sick leave to attend, but we wish him a speedy recovery. But we are mindful, of course, that up until this point he had been involved in the process."
"That is correct," responded Deputy Morel.
Another email from Mr Corrigan on 22 October showed that he encouraged the Chief Minister to tell the States Assembly that his social media vote was an "inadvertent mistake" which was "corrected when first raised with him by a member of the media".
Mr Corrigan also "respectfully invited" Deputy Farnham to make it known that he had "consistently pursued islanders' best interests in dealing with a range of particularly challenging matters on our sea connectivity in the past 12 months".
Grilled over what had happened in the States Assembly the following day, Economic Development Minister Kirsten Morel referred to an Express article as he sought to defend Mr Corrigan along the lines suggested in his email: "I know there was a headline that said, 'bias or blunder?'. This was a blunder. It was not bias, and I'm absolutely convinced by that."
"...You only ever find out if it's tested in court, but I believe we are on a safe ground in that sense. He has made an error, he has immediately recused himself," he added.
The Minister also said Mr Corrigan had been an "amazing advisor" throughout the process, and continued to have his "full support".
In the same session, he explained that the reason Jersey had not been able to declare its preferred bidder was because it was seeking more information.
In an interview with Express last week, Brittany Ferries CEO Christophe Mathieu spoke out on Mr Corrigan's social media blunder for the first time.
"He didn't vote for Brittany Ferries, that's all I can say. So it might be a coincidence, but for a lot of people it was the wrong thing to do to vote anyhow," he commented.
However, Mr Mathieu acknowledged that Mr Corrigan had stepped away from the selection process and was "not involved in any way shape or form" with the new Jersey-only tender, which this week resulted in the appointment of DFDS as key operator for the next 15 years.
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