In an investigation report by the island’s Economic Development Department, it is claimed that Dominic Lazarus committed a number of errors and breaches of regulations between November 2019 and July this year.
Allegations levelled against Mr Lazarus include failing to manage the conflicts of interest between the two islands.
He has also been accused of making regulatory decisions before taking relevant advice and allowing documents from developing Guernsey’s aircraft registry to be provided to Jersey when the island was setting up its own service.
Guernsey’s Economic Development Department has now recommended to the island’s States that Mr Lazarus is removed from office. Politicians will debate the motion in the coming months.
The department’s report says: ‘The investigating officer has identified evidence which shows, on the balance of probabilities, that there is a combination of repeated poor performance, failure to learn from previous mistakes and lack of competence as a regulator on the director of civil aviation’s part.
‘On that basis, the committee may consider that all those aspects taken together meet the threshold in Section 1(7) of the Aviation (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law 2008 for “misbehaviour or gross incompetence”.’
The report adds that, in his defence, Mr Lazarus believed he had provided an appropriate level of service and that issues had resulted from commercial pressures, while delays had been caused by paperwork not reaching him in time.
He also claims that his service had been under-resourced and he did not receive enough funding to operate as a regulatory body at a ‘good standard’.
Mr Lazarus said earlier this month that despite the situation in Guernsey, his role in Jersey ‘was continuing as normal’.
He was suspended in Guernsey between 14 August and 29 September, while investigations were carried out into several incidents that took place between November 2019 and July 2020.
The Government of Jersey was approached for comment but had not responded by the time of publication.
