Yesterday, Members voted 28 to 19 with one abstention not to adopt a proposition from Deputy Gerard Baudains calling for an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the controversial departure of Mr Swinson in June.
His resignation as the States’ independent spending watchdog came after a key witness to his critical report about Treasury Minister Philip Ozouf’s role in the collapse of the Lime Grove deal to build a new police station at Green Street refuted his evidence.
It led to months of accusations, rumours and questions which Deputy Baudains said needed to be answered before everyone could ‘move on’. He described it as ‘imperative’ that the States got to the bottom of it.
However, it was not a view shared by the majority of the Assembly with many Members raising concerns about the possible cost of such an inquiry, what it would achieve and the need to draw a line under the issue sooner rather than later.
