Fallagate

Fallagate[1] was a political scandal in Guernsey in 2007, over the desire by Deputies of the States of Deliberation to appear corruption free. The desire to appear corruption free cost the island's 40,000 taxpayers £60 each, and the resulting scandal led to the resignation of Laurie Morgan, the then Chief Minister of Guernsey, and the Policy Council, a committee of the States.[1]

Background

Tender for Princess Elizabeth Hospital extension

The States of Guernsey put out a tender to build an extension on the Princess Elizabeth Hospital in St. Andrew. Several firms put in tenders, including R. G. Falla Ltd, Guernseys largest builder,[2] whose bid was the cheapest by £2.4million.[3]

Stuart Falla

Stuart Falla took over his father's construction company, R. G. Falla Ltd, in the 1980s, and has been a shareholder since.[4] In 2004 Falla was elected as one of the Deputies to the States of Deliberation for the parish of Castel,[5] and became the minister for commerce and employment.[6][7]

Conflict of interest

Due to an apparent conflict of interest between his position as a Deputy, and his part ownership of R. G. Falla, Stuart Falla chose not to attend a committee meeting to discuss which bid would get the contract to build the hospital extension.[8] At the time of the meeting, R. G. Falla was the preferred tender at £25million, costing £2.4million less than the next best quote.

But when the conflict of interest was pointed out, senior Deputies pressured Stuart Falla, a recently elected Deputy of the States, to either resign his seat or withdraw his bid. R. G. Falla subsequently withdrew its tender. The contract was then awarded to the next best quote, costing the States £2.4 million.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Fenton, Ben (2007-02-17). "Guernsey gripped by fall-out from Fallagate". Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group Limited. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
  2. ^ "Three chase Guernsey schools deal". Construction News. emap Ltd. 2004-12-16. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
  3. ^ "Ministers under pressure to quit". BBC News. BBC. 2007-01-26. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
  4. ^ "Respecting Privacy in Global Networks". Networkprivacy.gg. Retrieved 2016-03-19.
  5. ^ "Election 2008". BBC. 2008. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
  6. ^ "Falla speaks out over States row". BBC News. BBC. 2007-02-17. Retrieved 2009-09-17.
  7. ^ "Department ministers are elected". BBC News. BBC. 2004-05-04. Retrieved 2009-09-17.
  8. ^ "This is Guernsey Forum: 'Fallagate' Affair". www.thisisguernsey.co.uk. Archived from the original on 12 April 2010. Retrieved 17 January 2022.