GSD Calls For Full Explanation Over Rooke Figures

The GSD has renewed its calls for the Government to explain how the £90 million figure given in Parliament in connection with the Rooke development was incorrect.

A statement from the GSD follows below:

The Government’s admission that the £90 million figure given in Parliament was  incorrect is alarming and requires an immediate and full explanation. This is not a  simple error. What we have here is the Minister with responsibility for delivering the  Rooke project, after repeating the significant figure of £90 million now saying that it  was said by mistake. 

If the Government did in fact make a mistake in providing the £90M or any figures, it  had ample opportunity, through the Ministers present, to correct the record at the time.  Sir Joe Bossano was repeatedly pressed on that figure, yet at no point did he say it was a  mistake. The Chief Minister was also present in the Chamber, as was the Minister for  Health and Care during parts of the questioning. Neither intervened to correct the figure  or the parliamentary record. 

However, if, following public backlash and further calls from the Opposition, the  Government has now sought to backtrack provide an explanation by stating it was an  error, it should support that explanation by make the full financial information publicly  available. 

The Government must explain how such a significant error arose and ensure that the  parliamentary record is formally corrected. 

Shadow Minister Atrish Sanchez adds “Crucially, stating that £30 million remains  outstanding does not answer the original question: what is the total funding advanced to  date by the Gibraltar Savings Bank in connection with the Rooke Project? An outstanding  balance and the total amount advanced are different figures. The public is entitled to a  clear answer to the question asked, supported by the full financial details, the independent  valuation that the Minister for Health and Care said she would seek in respect of the Rooke  Project, and full details of the financial terms of the GHA arrangements, all of which are  questions the GSD has posed without satisfactory and now it seems inaccurate answers.”