Mezec: “Ozouf must go”

Friday 13 January 2017

The Chairman of Jersey's only political party says he’ll be bringing a vote of no confidence if the Assistant Minister responsible for the ill-fated Innovation Fund isn't sacked.

Speaking this morning, Reform Jersey's Deputy Sam Mezec described Senator Philip Ozouf as “...a liability to the Island.”

His comments follow the release of a damning report by the States spending watchdog last week which slammed the running of the Jersey Innovation Fund suggesting up to £1.4million of public money has been wasted.

So far Ministers have attributed responsibility for the failure of the Fund to the civil servants who set-up and administered it.

The Economic Development department’s former Chief Officer Mike King - who was the Accounting Officer for the Fund until November 2016 - announced he was quitting his job with immediate effect earlier this month. Under the terms of his contract he’s being paid in the region of £70,000.

The Innovation Fund was set up by the States in 2013, with £5million of taxpayers' money, in a bid to help diversify and grow the economy after a deep global recession, with a Board made up of private sector individuals and States officers.

But problems were revealed last year when it emerged that a software development company, Logfiller, which had received a large loan from the Fund, appeared not to be actually operating, and subsequently went into liquidation, with a potential loss to taxpayers of hundreds of thousands of pounds. 

At the time, the Assistant Chief Minister responsible for the Fund, Senator Philip Ozouf argued that up to half the investments made by the Fund would fail, as that was the nature of what it did, and criticised States Members for "revelling in failure." He told the States he took full responsibility for Fund: “Let me be absolutely clear, the Minister and that is delegated to me, takes full responsibility and accountability for the decisions taken.”

Deputy Mezec is just one of a number of politicians who wants questions answered and action taken. A host of written and oral questions have been tabled for Tuesday: the first States meeting of 2017.

Constable Chris Taylor is another politician also seriously considering a vote of no confidence although he fears it might be pointless: “There’s no point in bring a vote unless it is seriously going to damage those in power. If they succeed in fighting it off, all it does is boost their ego and make them feel invincible.”