Mar 20 - GSD Condemns Lack Of Answers In Parliament
The GSD Opposition has today described the Motion by the Chief Minister suggesting that the Leader of the Opposition misled Parliament, as “another attempt to divert attention away from the refusal by the Chief Minister to be transparent over Credit Finance Company Limited and the £400 million of savers’ money invested in it.”
This was the latest refusal, says the GSD, in a very long list of refusals, to answer questions in Parliament on this issue. The Opposition stresses that it is perfectly entitled to ask and, indeed, has an obligation to ask, in the public interest, whether the owners of the Sunborn have made all repayments in respect of the £30m to £40 million loan provided to them by Credit Finance Company on their due date and/or whether any of those repayments have had to be rescheduled. The GSD says it would remind the Chief Minister that he is dealing with savers’ money guaranteed by the Government and therefore with an exposure to the taxpayer.
The Opposition also notes that it is “quite ironic” that the Chief Minister should talk about anyone misleading Parliament, when, according to the GSD, he is guilty of “the biggest misrepresentation ever to be uttered in the House” on this very same subject and which set the standard for the Government’s conduct in Parliament in relation to Credit Finance Company Limited for the last two years.
It will be recalled, says the GSD, that just prior to the 2013 by-election, the Leader of the Opposition asked the Chief Minister whether the Government had “DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY” provided any kind of financial assistance to the owners of the Sunborn and the answer was “No Sir”. Despite repeated denials during the by-election campaign that any loans had been provided, the GSD says that the Chief Minister then “came clean” the day after the by-election when he admitted that a Government owned company had provided loans to the Sunborn in excess of £30 million.
A statement released by the party this afternoon concluded: “To his eternal shame as a Parliamentarian, the Chief Minister then sought to argue that the Government did not “DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY” provide any loan because that loan had been provided by a Government owned company instead.
“The Chief Minister’s credibility on this issue has been completely shot to pieces from the very outset of this controversy. His only tactics since has been to divert attention.”
