St Helier Deputy Andrew Lewis appeared before a public hearing of the Privileges and Procedures Committee this week after the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry’s report concluded that he lied to the States, as well as the panel itself, about the suspension of former-police chief Graham Power in 2008.
PPC announced they had found that Deputy Lewis had breached the States Code of Conduct. The committee’s announcement comes after Deputy Lewis ‘unequivocally’ apologised to Members who felt misled by his comments following Tuesday’s PPC hearing.
The committee is expected to publish a public report within the next few weeks recommending to the States Assembly what course of action should be taken.
This could include suspending Deputy Lewis from the Assembly, calling a vote of no confidence in his role as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, a vote of censure or, more leniently, a public statement being made against him.
It is not possible for Deputy Lewis to be fined or have pay docked for his actions. Deputy Lewis will have the right to appeal the decision to the States Assembly but not to PPC.
Deputy Lewis was found by the inquiry to have falsely claimed during a States sitting that he saw a Metropolitan Police report justifying Mr Power’s suspension, which he ordered while he was Home Affairs Minister. He had in fact only seen extracts of the report in a letter from acting police chief David Warcup.
A PPC statement says: ‘The committee intends publishing a full explanation of its reasons for reaching this conclusion, indicating the action it will be recommending to the Assembly.’
PPC says that it will not be issuing any further comment on the matter until its report is published.
Full report tomorrow
