SENATOR Jim Perchard has resigned from the Waterfront Enterprise Board, claiming he was misled over the Las Vegas lawsuit and the chairman’s links to Harcourt’s financial backers.
He says he was told the lawsuit against Harcourt had not been filed, and that throughout his two-and-a-half-year tenure on WEB he was never told that board chairman Gerald Voisin was also the non-executive chairman of AIB CI Ltd. AIB CI Ltd is a subsidiary of Harcourt’s financial backers – Allied Irish Bank plc.
Senator Perchard says that despite Mr Voisin’s protest that he had no involvement in any deals between Harcourt and the bank, he is in a conflicted position.
‘I don’t want to swim in murky waters and I do not want to be associated with dark corridors – that’s not why I got into politics,’ said the Senator, who is Assistant Health Minister in charge of child protection.
‘I am terribly disappointed. It is a great opportunity to deliver the Waterfront Masterplan and I wanted to be a part of it.’
Asked whether he thought Mr Voisin’s position as WEB chairman was still tenable, Senator Perchard would not respond directly.
However, he said: ‘WEB must be seen to be open and transparent and the States will make a decision on this. It is for the States to decide.’
Senator Perchard’s resignation comes after Thursday’s debate approving the Waterfront Masterplan.
That debate saw the Esplanade Quarter plans adopted, but just after the vote it was revealed that proposed developers Harcourt were being sued for millions of dollars in Nevada – a claim denied by Senator Perchard and Chief Minister Frank Walker during the debate – and that financial reports struck a cautious tone about the developers’ ability to carry out the project.
States Members have already moved to try to reverse the decision, and a no-confidence motion in the Council of Ministers has been threatened by Senator Stuart Syvret.
