Last week, Deputies Scott Wickenden and Hugh Raymond, along with unsuccessful candidate Bernie Manning, were charged with failing to declare their election expenses within the required timeframe.
All three later appeared in the Magistrate’s Court and pleaded not guilty to the charge which would have led to them automatically losing their seats if they had been convicted.
It later transpired that as many as 42 candidates – of which 18 had been elected – had also breached the law.
But, on Wednesday night, Attorney General Robert MacRae QC announced that it was not in the public interest to prosecute and all charges were dropped yesterday.
The Judicial Greffier later issued an apology to all affected candidates after admitting that there had been a string of errors in the information that it gave to candidates.
Advocate Mistry, who represented Deputies Scott Wickenden and Hugh Raymond, said in a statement this week that it had been a very difficult time for his clients.
‘My clients were invited to the Magistrate’s Court, so that the Prosecution could formally offer no evidence to the Court, which resulted in the charge made against them being dropped. My clients were not awarded their costs,’ he said.
‘This has been a harrowing and distressing time for my clients and their families, and they are both glad that this ordeal is now over, so that they can concentrate on doing what they have been elected to do.
‘There are serious questions that need to be asked of both the Judicial Greffier and the Attorney General’s Department as, from what I understand, there has been a list of fatal errors which has led to my clients being arrested and then charged under the Public Elections (Expenditure and Donations) (Jersey) Law 2014 – a Law which I understand is now to be amended in short order.’
Advocate Mistry added that since his clients were charged he had been asking the prosecution to provide him with certain papers but that he had been refused them on the basis that they were not relevant.
But he claimed that it later became clear that the documents had been a contributing factor in the charges being dropped.
He added: ‘My clients now wish to draw a line under this matter and they wish to thank all of those who have been supportive of them during this process.’
