Senator Alan Maclean has hit out at the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel following a new round of questions at a public hearing this week.
He said the time taken by the group to conduct their review into the project, which is ongoing, was damaging and, ultimately, against the interest of taxpayers, who own the site.
And the minister warned that the continuing dispute was hampering progress. ‘Trying to progress in this environment is extremely difficult,’ he said.
His comments follow a critical interim report by the Scrutiny panel, based on a viability review carried out by auditors Ernst and Young, which raised questions over the project, its potential profit returns and the demand for office space in the Island.
However, Deputy John Le Fondré, the chairman of the panel, said that ‘significant delays’ had been caused by the Jersey Development Company’s reluctance to hand over confidential documents to the group.
And on Monday it was revealed that the panel had become locked in another tussle with the JDC over access to confidential documents about the project, which is due to be built on the Esplanade Car Park.
The JDC, it emerged at the same Scrutiny hearing, has launched a legal challenge to Scrutiny’s summons that they had issued in an attempt to get the States-owned company to disclose information about the finance centre.
When asked about the potential effect of the controversy, Senator Maclean said: ‘It’s been a very long, drawn-out and ongoing review of the finance centre project.
‘It’s already resulted in the loss of potential tenants.’
When asked how many businesses had turned their back on the finance centre Senator Maclean said: ‘I know of three’. However he would not disclose their names publicly.
He added: ‘Companies are unwilling to commit their time, money and reputation, which is important, to a project that is surrounded by controversy and uncertainty.
‘Because the review is ongoing it has added to the uncertainty.’
Scrutiny has spoken out several times about delays caused by its struggle to access commercially sensitive information about the finance centre.
The panel recently issued a summons to try to obtain the pre-let agreement between the JDC and their first tenants UBS, the funding agreement between the JDC and lenders HSBC and the construction contract between the States developers and building firm Camerons.
Deputy Le Fondré said: ‘There have been significant delays caused by the JDC/the Treasury Minister in providing us with information even on a confidential basis.
‘Our first request took two-and-a-half months to be resolved, and we are still seeking information requested in early June for which we have recently had to issue a summons.
‘It has considerably slowed the review and has impaired the ability of the panel to complete its review on a timely basis.’
The Privileges and Procedures Committee, the body that oversees States Members’ behaviour, standards and the machinery of government, is now reviewing submissions by Scrutiny and the JDC over whether the summons or legal challenge to block it should stand.
Deputy Le Fondré added that the panel had previously accepted documents on a confidential basis but acknowledged the JDC did not believe that that was sufficient to protect their interests.
‘This is completely unprecedented territory for a Scrutiny panel, on the basis that we believe that this is the first time that a summons has been issued,’ he said.
Acknowledging that the panel would argue that delays had been caused by the tussle over confidential information, Senator Maclean said: ‘We’ve got to strike a very careful balance to ensure we protect the public interest and allow the JDC to operate on a level playing field, because we set up the company to maximise the value of public assets.
Back in June around 2,000 Islanders protested against the International Finance Centre by creating a ring of defiance around the car park.
- Plans for Building 5 the second unit of the JIFC were approved by the Planning Applications Panel
- That decision was subject to an appeal by rival developers C Le Masurier Ltd and is due to be reviewed by an independent planning inspector
- Backbencher Deputy Montfort Tadier lodged a proposition calling for work on the first building of the scheme to be delayed until the outcomes of the Scrutiny review were known
- Before that proposition was rejected by the States, campaigners formed a human chain around the Esplanade car park to show their opposition to the project
- The JDC announced that Swiss finance firm UBS had agreed to lease around 25 per cent of the first building
- Work began this summer after the JDC said that securing the first tenant meant the building costs were covered and they could proceed
- Higher-than-expected levels of contamination were found at the site when excavations began
- Most recently the Treasury Department published a valuation report by real-estate experts DTZ, who suggested the scheme could return £95 million much more than previously estimated
