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2.16 Deputy T.M. Pitman of the Attorney General regarding alleged breaches of the Public Elections (Jersey) Law 2002:
In the light of the Attorney General's recent confirmation that he has chosen to prosecute only certain alleged breaches of the Public Elections (Jersey) Law 2002 and not all, does the Attorney General now intend to tender his resignation? Particularly as this breaks entirely the ethics of the code of his own website?
Mr. W.J. Bailhache Q.C., H.M. Attorney General:
I did not hear the last bit, so could the questioner repeat that?
Deputy T.M. Pitman:
I said, particularly as it appears to break the very code on your own website. The Attorney General:
I do not recall giving any such confirmation as is contained in the question, but in any event, the answer is no.
2.16.1 Deputy T.M. Pitman:
We have in our evidence from the Attorney General that he does confirm such a thing so I think he is misleading the House, which I think is quite shocking.
The Deputy Bailiff :
What is your question? What is your question, Deputy ? Deputy T.M. Pitman:
My question is is the Attorney General misleading the House? The Attorney General:
Certainly not because I have said I do not recall giving any such confirmation, that remains true. If the position is that the Deputy is referring to the written answer which I gave last week, I expressly said that I was not commenting on the facts underlying the 2 current prosecutions which are pending. I gave the answer then as a matter of general principle, as I say, expressly not commenting on those facts.
Deputy T.M. Pitman:
But this really is not good enough. Email evidence - an email sent to Deputy Shona Pitman - this is quite disgraceful. Proof. I can fax it if Sir would really like me to.
The Attorney General:
I am grateful to the Deputy , if I may, because I do now recall the email in question and in the circumstances that that has been made public by the Deputy , it was a communication between me and a person who is accused and unrepresented. But, in the light of that, I do confirm that I did decide not to take forward a police investigation in relation to one other incident. Details of that will, no doubt, be available to the court at the time the matter comes to trial. For all the reasons I have given previously, it is simply not appropriate that there should be discussion about these matters in this Assembly when a trial is pending.