A POLICE investigation into claims by Senator Stuart Syvret that he was blackmailed by a group which campaigns against offshore finance centres has been dropped.

The Tax Justice Network – an organisation which campaigns for tax reform across the world – is now calling on the Senator to publicly apologise to them. He has refused to do so and has dismissed the group as ‘clowns’. Senator Syvret alleged to the police in April that the TJN had tried to blackmail him into publicly supporting the group, which has been described as ‘enemies’ of Jersey. He said that two senior members of TJN – former States economic adviser John Christensen and Richard Murphy – had threatened to disclose correspondence which purported to reveal his past support for TJN and another pressure group, Attac. The blackmail allegations were denied by Mr Christensen and Mr Murphy and after hearing that the police investigation had been closed, they called for a public apology. ‘There was never any substance to the allegations,’ said Mr Christensen.