States member suspended after breaching rules

An Alderney States member has been suspended for three days, after the parliamentary watchdog found he broke government rules.

The Commissioner for Standards found Alex Snowdonto have disclosed confidential information, or information derived from confidential States discussions, without authority.

The ruling related to an allegation he had told a member of the public a proposed data centre was "going into Mannez Quarry," when the decision had not been taken by the States and the project had been "at a confidential exploratory stage".

Snowdon said he had been acting in the public interest and previously suggested the complaint had been politically motivated and lacked credibility.

In her judgement, commissioner Dr Melissa McCullough said Snowdon had broken rules around truthfulness and confidentiality and had breached the code of conduct.

She said she had "carefully considered his submission that he believed he was acting in the public interest" but stressed a member's "personal assessment of the public interest does not override the obligations imposed by the code".

She added the public interest was not served by "the unauthorised disclosure of confidential States information" or by "communicating materially inaccurate information that presents an undecided proposal as though it has already been determined".

A further complaint against Snowdon later claimed he had "refused to comply with the outcome of a conduct investigation" and this was also upheld by the commissioner.

Snowdon was suspended from the States of Alderney for one sitting day in relation to the first complaint and two sitting days in relation to the second.

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