A “more granular audit” of candidates’ election expenses is being carried out this year because no current Jersey Electoral Authority member has a financial compliance background.
The authority clarified that the audit of candidates’ election expenses was always planned after failed Senatorial candidate Sam Mézec questioned why the process had not made headlines over “cakes and biscuits”.
The former Reform Jersey leader claimed on social media that an official audit was being carried out because “many of the submissions don’t add up and swathes of election spending is missing from them”.
His comments followed the publication of candidates’ declarations last week, which revealed five-figure campaigns, professional consultancy packages and one unsuccessful attempt to distribute £100 worth of homemade cakes.
Mr Mézec – whose £11,000 Senatorial campaign was the third-most expensive – wrote: “You’d have thought this might have made the news coverage at least somewhere. But instead they’re focused on cakes and biscuits.”
He added: “After weeks of delay in publishing election expense declarations, the Jersey Electoral Authority has revealed that a full audit is having to be undertaken by the Chief Internal Auditor. This does not usually happen.”
But the Jersey Electoral Authority clarified that the involvement of the government’s internal audit team was agreed before the declarations were reviewed – rather than prompted by anything discovered in them.
In a statement, a spokesperson said confirmed that it was “always the intention” to involve the Chief Internal Auditor’s office in the process.
“The Jersey Electoral Authority are volunteer members, and none of the current members have financial compliance backgrounds,” the statement explained.
“It was therefore decided early on that forensic audit experience would be provided by the internal audit team in order to ensure everything is double-checked.”
The spokesperson added that the previous electoral authority had included two members – including its chair – with financial compliance backgrounds, meaning that involving the audit team had not been considered necessary during the last election.
Mr Mézec alleged that “huge swathes” of election spending were absent from the published declarations.
He singled out Value Jersey, claiming it had spent “fortunes” on American consultancy The Messina Group, whose staff were “directly involved in mentoring candidates” and coordinating campaigns intended to damage their opponents.
“Those side campaigns have not been fully declared,” he said. “It is vital that the Chief Internal Auditor leaves no stone unturned in this review and all rule-breaking is dealt with severely.”
Value Jersey-related spending appeared in several candidates’ returns published by Vote.je.
These included support packages covering posters, flyers, calling cards, electoral addresses and professional services, as well as campaign support from The Messina Group.
The returns showed candidates declaring a combined total of just over £227,000 in direct expenses, ranging from Alan Maclean’s £13,750 campaign to the £0 recorded by Tom and Rose Binet.
