Brian Napier QC has revealed that, procedurally, the process which led to Mr Power’s suspension was deeply suspect. In addition, the lengthy period of limbo which the former chief endured before his case was finally drawn to a conclusion was manifestly against natural justice.
In spite of these observations, the benefit of hindsight allows anyone with an interest in the case to consider a much wider picture than the restricted circumstances of the suspension – the Napier report’s focus of concern.
If a decision on Mr Power’s future was taken prematurely and in the absence of sufficient hard evidence, there can now be no doubt that the broad grounds on which the decision was taken eventually proved to be sound.
Although Mr Power might draw some comfort from the finding that he was suspended before proper evidence of incompetence, poor judgment or other major shortcomings had been gathered, it remains beyond doubt that his failure to control the excesses of his deputy, Lenny Harper, constituted unacceptable conduct.
Irrespective of the conclusions reached by Mr Napier, it has long been evident that Mr Power’s decision to allow Mr Harper to follow his own eccentric – and ultimately disastrous – strategy in the Haut de la Garenne inquiry amounted to dereliction of duty.
Meanwhile, it is highly significant that Mr Napier found procedural errors, coupled with undue haste and a failure to heed the wise counsel of the then Solicitor General, Tim Le Cocq, but no evidence of a conspiracy to oust the former chief.
Had the merest scintilla of proof that politicians and civil servants had connived to secure the removal of Mr Power emerged, confidence in the government of this Island would by now have been rocked to its foundations.
Moreover, any such rottenness at the heart of the administration would have added weight to Mr Power’s frankly bizarre allegation that he was beset by corruption and dark plots at the highest levels throughout his term of office – an allegation which, conspiracy theorists might like to note, remains unsupported by any material evidence.
