Feb 12 - Govt Transparency Claim 'Devoid of Truth' Says GSD
In response to questions from GBC, the Chief Minister this week insisted that Gibraltar is ‘one of the States that has the greatest standards of openness and transparency and democracy in the European Union and probably the World.’ The Opposition has insisted that a truly open Government would have not lied to Parliament about providing financial assistance to the owners of the Sunborn.
The part further added that, ‘Open and transparent Governments do not keep huge proportions of their debt or the public finances beyond the scrutiny of Parliament as this Government is doing with £400 million the Gibraltar Savings Bank transferred into Credit Finance. Open Governments do not conjure up financial schemes behind closed doors to fund its own expenditure because the law prevents them from borrowing directly what they need in order to pay for manifesto commitments.
‘Accountable Governments do not refuse to say who is benefiting from loans from Credit Finance, a Government owned company, in what amounts and on what terms so that the Opposition, and therefore the community we all serve, can assess the risk of these loans to Gibraltar and the Gibraltar Savings Bank.’
Further examples including the Government refusing to say whether the Bassadone tender for the buses was the cheapest tender are discussed in a statement released by the party, who claim the Chief Minister’s statement was hollow and devoid of any truth.
