A fresh war of words has broken out between Brittany Ferries and the government’s Economy Chief after he described Condor’s attitude towards the island in recent years as “nothing short of reprehensible”.
Richard Corrigan made the comments while he faced questions over the initial joint-ferry tender process between Jersey and Guernsey and the circumstances that lead to its collapse.
During a hearing of the Public Accounts Committee yesterday afternoon, held as part of a review of government procurement, questions were raised over the earlier stages of the island’s controversial saga to choose a new ferry operator.
The process began in May last year with the launch of a pan-island tender that collapsed in October when Guernsey revealed that it had decided to appoint Brittany Ferries – Condor’s majority owner – as its preferred bidder.
DFDS won the subsequent Jersey-only tender and has signed a 20-year contract to provide freight and passenger services between the Island, starting from 28 March.
Towards the end of the hearing, Committee chair Deputy Inna Gardiner asked about lessons learned that could be applied to future tender processes.
Mr Corrigan said: “Speaking frankly, I think the incumbent’s behaviour for a significant part of the last several years has been nothing short of reprehensible, in terms of their attitude towards the government and to islanders’ interests in ferry services.”
There’s comprehensive correspondence between the minister and Condor which underscores that reprehensible behaviour on the part of key executives
Richard Corrigan
He continued: “That should be a barrier to being able to enter into a procurement process, quite frankly, if you’ve played hard and fast in that way.
“The fact that they were given a fair and objective crack of the whip through a tender process, I think is testament to a desire to try and secure a better deal all round for the island, wherever that came from – with some confidence attempting to be placed in the fact that Brittany Ferries were coming more to the fore in the financial arrangements and the day to day operations of Condor.”
Going on to refer to Express‘s exposé of months of tense correspondence between the Minister and Brittany Ferries CEO Christophe Mathieu published yesterday, he added: “….Condor’s behaviour, and as you’ll see in today’s media… there’s comprehensive correspondence between the minister and Condor which underscores that reprehensible behaviour on the part of key executives.”
Mr Corrigan, who had to remove himself from the tender process after indicating a preference for DFDS in a social media poll by “inadvertent mistake”, also questioned whether Guernsey was “ever really committed to openly entering into a process that may result in a change of the operator”.
“Indeed, we’ve ended up in a position where they’ve appointed Condor.”
“Chutzpah”
Responding to Mr Corrigan’s comments, group head of communications for Brittany Ferries Nigel Wonnacott said: “I suppose you have to admire the chutzpah, coming as it does from a man removed from the ferry contract file.”
He continued: “‘Reprehensible’ is publicly expressing a preference in a so-called competitive bid process when you should be neutral.
“‘Reprehensible’ is creating a pathway to shoehorn in your preferred bidder, even as they were disqualified from the process.
“‘Reprehensible’ is the contempt in which those they purport to represent are held, following a stream of mis-remembering, mis-representing and mis-truthing.”
‘Reprehensible’ is the contempt in which those they purport to represent are held
nigel wonnacott, group head of communications for brittany ferries
He added: “I guess that’s something all tuppenny-ha’penny civil servants should think about before chucking stones from their massive glass house.”
Express has asked the Government if they wish to respond to Mr Wonnacott’s comments.
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