Senator’s silence comes under fire

Friday 16th July 2004, 12:00AM BST.

ENVIRONMENT president Senator Philip Ozouf came under strong attack from a States scrutiny panel yesterday over his claim that his family landowning interests prevented him from giving evidence on the future of the Island’s countryside.

The panel fired a barrage of questions at Senator Ozouf when he argued that he could not give evidence on the withdrawal of funding for rural policies because of a conflict of interests.

The Environment and Public Services president and the panel members had a series of lively exchanges over the Senator’s assertion that it would not be right for him to talk on behalf of a States policy from which his family might benefit.

The panel, chaired by Deputy Robert Duhamel, were not happy to accept the Senator’s contentions and repeatedly asked him why he had not declared the family interest in his entries on the official register of States Members’ interests.

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