The Commissioner for Standards, Paul Kernaghan, investigated Senator Ozouf’s use of his purchase card with regard to the booking of a flight and a hotel room. Senator Ozouf, who was an assistant chief minister at the time, refunded the States for both payments.
The report revealed for the first time that it was the former chief executive of the States, John Richardson, who made the formal complaint.
Mr Kernaghan found that Senator Ozouf did not breach the Code of Conduct for Elected Members or the Code of Conduct and Practice for Ministers and Assistant Ministers.
However, the commissioner did raise concerns about about the ‘apparent lack of guidance covering ministerial expenses’.
As previously reported, the States police launched an investigation into the two card payments but no criminal proceedings followed.
And the Privileges and Procedures Committee said that it considered that no further action was necessary.
Mr Richardson lodged a complaint in October last year regarding the payment of £362.76 for a Caribbean Airline LIAT flight, as well as an £82 charge for a room at a Gatwick Airport hotel.
Senator Ozouf told the commissioner that the payment for the flight on his States credit card was a ‘mistake’, something which Mr Kernaghan accepted.
In his report, the commissioner added: ‘I can accept that he had various cards loaded onto his iPad and that in this instance technology wasn’t of great assistance in maintaining a clear separation between personal and public/official transactions.
‘However, I do feel that the requirement to “insert” the security or CVV code should have alerted him to the official status of the card he was using for this personal transaction. Thus I feel he was unduly casual in his approach, but I do not feel that his actions amounted to a breach of the relevant codes.’
Meanwhile, Senator Ozouf defended booking a room at the Hampton Inn at Gatwick Airport on his States credit card.
He said that he returned to the UK from the US a day earlier than originally planned to ‘prepare for the impending crisis of the Jersey Innovation Fund’ as well as to get ready for a visit from the Rwandan finance minister.
Because of a forecast for icy and foggy conditions and concerns about traffic delays on the M25 the following day, he said he ‘took the precaution of staying at Gatwick so as to avoid early travel on Monday morning’. He added that it was cheaper to fly on a Monday morning than a Sunday evening.
In his response to the commissioner, Senator Ozouf said: ‘I booked the £82 hotel at Gatwick at the States rate on the States card to do whatever it took to get to Jersey. I was “on duty” for this period.’
Mr Kernaghan found: ‘I do not believe Senator Ozouf consciously sought to abuse his position by utilising public funds to cover his hotel stay at Gatwick. I believe he acted in good faith, albeit this use of his ministerial discretion might be thought questionable by some taxpayers.’
The commissioner’s report added: ‘I do remain concerned that his approach detailed in the two instances above was unduly casual and that there appears to be no clear framework within which ministers’ expenses are independently scrutinised.’
