Chief Minister Ian Gorst recently reappointed Senator Ozouf as an Assistant Chief Minister in a move that was met with criticism from a number of politicians.
Earlier this year, Senator Ozouf resigned following a damning report from the Comptroller and Auditor General Karen McConnell into the failures of the Jersey Innovation Fund.
However, Senator Gorst said a subsequent report had exonerated the former Treasury Minister from any blame for the fund’s failings and ushered him back into ministerial government.
The Chief Minister told the States that there was no need for a ministers’ vote on the reappointment and that the decision was his to make alone.
He admitted that some ministers told him that they would have made a different decision but that he believed Senator Ozouf was ‘best placed’ to start working on such an important area immediately given his previous experience and the contacts he already has.
He said: ‘I want the best person in the job to start working straight away. That person in my view is Senator Ozouf.’
