Nov 03 - Government: “Frightening That The GSD Should Be So Ill-informed"
The Government has said that it is clear that each statement that the GSD issues on the question of loans from Credit Finance to the developers of the Risso Bakery site “is more ridiculous than the previous one.” Number Six says it is obvious that the GSD “simply have no idea what they are talking about nor do they have a clue about the way things worked when they were in office themselves.”
A statement issued yesterday evening continued: “The Government have already explained that the loan was not for the demolition of the Risso Bakery nor was it a secret, given that the information is publicly available. The loan was related to the plot next door to the Risso bakery and it has since been repaid.
“The GSD have said that ‘we should not be rewarding developers who destroy our heritage with loans’. This is an incredible statement. When the GSD were in office they gave secret a loan of £ 4 million to OEM who were the developers of a number of sites including Nelson’s View. This housing scheme was constructed on top of the historic Rosia Tanks, it involved the destruction of the tanks and went ahead despite the opposition of the Heritage Trust and residents of the area. Indeed, there were even resignations from the Board of the Trust at the time. The £ 4 million that they loaned to OEM has not been repaid.
“Secondly, the GSD have said that they only discovered the existence of Credit Finance ‘as a consequence of a tip-off’. This is a remarkable statement. The existence of Credit Finance was published in the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure of the Government of Gibraltar for 2012/13. This shows that they have not even read or properly considered the Estimates when these were presented to them because by their own admission they missed the inclusion of Credit Finance in the chart of Government companies and they had to rely on a “tip-off” instead.
“It is frightening that the GSD should be so ill-informed.”
The Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said:
“It is disgraceful that the GSD want to continue to bury their secret loans to OEM, even after the disclosure of the loan documentation by the Government. The taxpayer lost £ 4 million as a result of those secret GSD loans. That loss was over 1% of recurrent public expenditure in that year which was lost to the taxpayer as a result of the failed loans. What is worse, the money was used to destroy the historic Rosia Tanks which were used to provision Admiral Nelson’s ship and the Royal Navy over the years. Why do they not want to talk about that? Mr Feetham’s shame at these secret GSD loans is palpable.”
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