The full scale of the fiasco

Those lessons have now been spelt out in considerable detail by Chris Swinson, the Comptroller and Auditor General, whose report also casts much-needed light on the reasons for Mr Ogley’s departure.

It is, however, important to point out that the terms of the infamous golden handshake and the circumstances surrounding it might have remained obscure had it not been for this newspaper’s freedom of information request and Chief Minister Ian Gorst’s willingness to countenance a new creed of political openness.

That said, Treasury Minister Philip Ozouf says that he would have published the pay-off figure in May’s States accounts, though there could be no place in that document for the astonishing background detail which has now emerged.

But, as matters stand, Islanders now have a clear picture of a sad saga in which, massive and inappropriate as it was, Mr Ogley’s award pales into insignificance compared with the chaos which, manifestly, reigned in the corridors of power before he took the money and ran.

As Senator Ozouf says, there are two sides to every story, but it is nevertheless apparent that he was at the centre of events that led to Mr Ogley’s exit from office.

Although he remains unrepentant over his actions, which, he says, held the Island’s highest-paid civil servant to account, there was clearly a catastrophic breakdown of trust and respect between two men who had to get on if governmental goals were to be realised.

Perhaps surprisingly, former Chief Minister Terry Le Sueur appears not to have shared his fellow minister’s doubts about the former chief executive’s ability and performance, though his attempts to pour oil on troubled waters were at best perfunctory.

Meanwhile, it now easier to understand why Mr Ogley sought to protect his interests – even if the scale of the demand he made was frankly absurd and should never have been given the stamp of approval by former Senator Frank Walker and his advisers.

If he was in any sense a victim, he fell prey to the mood of acrimony and personal invective which, alas, has characterised political and public sector life in recent years.

Looking to the future, Senator Gorst’s promise that there will be no more massive handouts is to be commended.

So, too, are Mr Swinson’s recommendations, which include a code of conduct to ensure that ministers relate to officers in ways which many Islanders would consider to be normal rather than exceptional – namely on a professional basis free of conduct that is overbearing, unreasonable, vindictive or aggressive.