Government defends Conflict of Interests Bill against GSD criticism 

The Government of Gibraltar has again defended the Conflict of Interests Bill against Opposition criticism, accusing GSD leader Keith Azopardi of “spreading misinformation” about its effect and saying the draft legislation seeks to implement recommendations in the Openshaw Report in a “rigorous and effective” way.  

The statement said Sir Peter Openshaw, the chairman of McGrail Inquiry, had been clear in proposing that Gibraltar should adopt the Canadian model of legislation on conflicts or a tailor-made alternative.  

No.6 Convent Place said that “to reassure the public”, it had sought the detailed reasoning of the independent draftsman of the Bill, Daniel Greenberg, who is also the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards in the UK House of Commons. 

According to the statement, Mr Greenberg confirmed that the priorities for drafting the Bill had been “clarity, certainty and enforceability”, in accordance with the principles applied to Gibraltar’s legislative code in general.  

According to No.6, he also confirmed the Bill covered all the substantive issues addressed by the Canadian Act as well as a number of additional issues relating to the conduct of public business, including keeping records of meetings.  

The Bill departed from the Canadian Act by avoiding reliance on “overly restrictive” definitions or rules that created “avoidance opportunities or uncertain concepts” that created enforcement difficulties.  

Mr Greenberg confirmed the Bill’s use of natural language terms such as “family” and “business and personal associates” avoided what it described as “the artificiality of exempting a common-law partner for the first year of a relationship”, as the Canadian Act does, and also avoided arguments about the meaning of terms like “primarily dependent” that were likely to frustrate enforcement, the statement added. 

Additionally, unlike the Canadian Act, the Bill gave statutory expression to fundamental principles of public life, including the Nolan Principles, which it said would be enshrined in primary legislation for the first time.  

It imposed overarching and directly enforceable duties on public officials of all kinds of a wide-ranging nature, and also gave statutory expression to the Ministerial Code, as recommended.  

The statement said these provisions would develop and support a compliance culture.  

The Bill used a legislative hierarchy to ensure that principles and fundamental provisions were clearly set out in primary legislation, that secondary legislation was used to provide certainty and detail in relation to specific issues, and that it also provided flexibility to react to avoidance attempts or changing circumstances so as to keep the provisions relevant and effective.  

That guidance and other quasi-legislation could be developed in consultation with the independent Commissioner and stakeholders to ensure that the entire public service community understood the purpose and effect of the legislation and how to implement it effectively.  

On enforcement, the Bill enacted a spectrum ranging from criminal offences to formal and informal action by the independent Commissioner of Standards.  

This would ensure that minor or inadvertent mistakes could be corrected in a proportionate manner, while criminality would be reserved as an effective deterrent for deliberate misconduct, the statement said Mr Greenberg had confirmed. 

It added that the Bill also used a network of compliance officers and other processes to ensure that training and education were central to the compliance strategy for the legislation.  

Overall, the Government said the Bill had been designed to fit with the legislative standards and structure of Gibraltar’s statute book.  

“The Government is confident that the public will see this important piece of legislation for what it is, and not be swayed by the self-serving rhetoric of those whose only driving force seems to be to harm the Government – with Gibraltar’s reputation as collateral damage if necessary – at every opportunity,” No.6 added in the statement.