Jan 06 - GSD Requests Transparency Over Tercentenary Hall Rental
The GSD Opposition says it notes the Government’s assertion in relation to the use of Tercentenary Hall by Rock Royale Event Management Company for their events on Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve “that Government premises have been rented out for private functions since time immemorial”.
However, according to the GSD, this is not what the Government told Parliament when the Tercentenary Hall was used in similar circumstances in Christmas of 2013. On 23 January 2014, Isobel Ellul- Hammond asked the Minister for Sport “how much the rental of the Tercentenary Hall for a private Christmas function is?” The answer was that “there is no rental fee for the use of the Tercentenary Sports Hall for functions not of a sports nature”. It is, therefore, says the GSD, surprising that the Government should now claim its policy is clear and that they are simply following the practice from “time immemorial".
Furthermore, argues the Opposition, a distinction must be made between the use of such public amenities by private clubs and organisations for non-profit making purposes and their use by a business for profit. In the case of the latter, says the party, the onus is on the Government to account to the public for the use of such amenities “in an open and transparent way.”
The GSD reveals that its company searches indicate that there is no limited company in Gibraltar called Rock Royale Event Management Company. Unless a company has been incorporated outside Gibraltar it is simply an unregistered trading name, it says. It must follow, says the party, that any contractual arrangements by the Government or the Sports and Leisure Authority with “Rock Royale” must have been made with the individuals trading as such.
The fact is, says the GSD, that those individuals are “well known GSLP activists, one of whom is, or was, the Chairperson of the GSLP Youth section and a member of the GSLP executive.”
The GSD says that, in an interview with a local magazine in September of last year, the said chairperson described herself as Rock Royale’s “joint CEO”. The other “joint CEO” of Rock Royale is, according to the GSD, “also a well-known GSLP supporter.”
Furthermore, says the Opposition, the posters for these events (attached below) advertise the GSLP Youth section as event sponsors (see enclosed) and both Minister Bossano and Sacramento were invited to the Christmas Day event, where Minister Bossano gave a speech. The political connections are clear for anyone to see, according to the GSD.
Given these political connections and the answers given in Parliament last year about the previous use of the Tercentenary Hall, the GSD calls on the Government to be transparent about its dealings with “Rock Royale” and these events.
The GSD therefore poses the following questions: How much did Rock Royale pay the Government for rent? Did the Government directly or indirectly subsidise or fund this event in any way whatsoever including in relation to the hiring of the Ministry of Sound and other professional musicians? Did the Government put itself forward either as funder or as guarantor pending receipt of ticket sales?
Given what it sees as the clear political connections of the organisers and the potential relationship of the event with the public purse, the GSD says it regards these as pertinent questions in a democracy.
The GSD Opposition says it strongly supports the creation of a sustainable entertainments industry in Gibraltar for our youth but that where GSD policy radically differs from Government policy is that any support for our entertainments industry “must be underpinned by transparency and accountability.”
“In other words,” concludes a statement from the party, “whenever a future GSD Government takes the policy decision to make public facilities available to businesses for profit or indeed to fund a project, it will open up the same to competition and the terms of any commercial arrangements will be made public. What a GSD Government will not do, is load the dice in favour of people with strong political connections to the ruling party.”
