PRESSURE is continuing to mount on Deputy Philip Ozouf with St Saviour parishioners exploring using an ancient legal device to demand he be held to account for his conduct after the former minister admitted a number of immigration offences in the Royal Court.
A requête, which allows the electorate to demand a parish assembly takes place, has been discussed by voters in St Saviour – although the details of what it would seek a decision on are still being formulated.
There is no legal provision which could force Deputy Ozouf to resign from his position as a States Member as the Island does not have a recall mechanism for elected officials. However, the requête could be used to express the views of parishioners and increase the calls for Deputy Ozouf to resign.
And one of Deputy Ozouf’s fellow St Saviour representatives has said the requête could ask that the one-time Deputy Chief Minister be banned from the Parish Hall.
The former Treasury and External Relations Minister is already facing another move to suspend him from the States Assembly until after he is sentenced for a string of immigration offences relating to the employment of Rwandan nationals. Deputy Ozouf is due to return to the Royal Court on 6 February next year, when a date for his sentencing will be set.
The Privileges and Procedures Committee, which upholds the States Members’ Code of Conduct, has lodged a proposition calling for the long-serving politician to be suspended until after the conclusion of the criminal proceedings. The PPC, in its proposition, said that the offences “warrants his suspension from the Assembly as a neutral act until the outcome of his court case is known”.
The proposition to suspend Deputy Ozouf is due to be held next week behind closed doors so as not to risk prejudicing the ongoing case. If successful, the St Saviour representative would be suspended with full pay.
Deputy Ozouf had only last month returned from a 28-day suspension, which was agreed by the Assembly in September after he was fined in the Magistrate’s Court for motoring offences.
St Saviour Deputy Malcolm Ferey, who is also a member of the PPC, said: “I was part of the discussions that brought the first – and this – proposition, and for similar reasons I will be voting for it again next week.”
Deputy Ferey also said he had heard about a possible requête “to exclude Deputy Ozouf from the Parish Hall”, which had been mentioned “in the course of conversations with parishioners”.
However, he noted that excluding someone from the parish hall was “quite different to excluding somebody from sitting in, voting in and speaking in the States Assembly”.
“You might be able to exclude them in their role as Deputy but I don’t think people could be prevented from attending a public meeting – and if I’m being honest I don’t think they should be,” he added.
St Saviour Constable Kevin Lewis also told the JEP he had “heard rumours” of a requête but said that “I haven’t received anything in the Parish”.
“If a requête did come in then I would have to seek legal advice on the way forward,” he added.
Another St Saviour Deputy, Tom Binet, said he had not heard such rumours.
Commenting on the proposition from PPC, he said: “I wasn’t in favour of removing him [Deputy Ozouf] from the States last time and I’m still not this time.”
