GSD says CM continues to mislead on Bassadone deal

The GSD has said Chief Minister Fabian Picardo has continued to mislead the public over the deal to rent office space for civil servants in the Bassadone building on Queensway.

The statement issued on Tuesday evening was the latest exchange over the deal, with the GSD taking issue over an answer to their question in Parliament on rental amounts for the office space.

Mr Picardo had told Parliament that the Government had signed a 21-year lease with the Bassadone Group for 3,618 square metres of office space at a cost of £21,816.88 per month.

The Government has defended the deal which it said could free up several Government-owned properties with capital value of £10.2m.

In response the GSD has said that Mr Picardo is “obviously cornered and rattled at having been caught out”.

The GSD has pointed to Land Register documents which suggested the rent was much higher than £21,816.88.

“From the initially prepared answer to the following answers he gave, the Chief Minister said that the monthly rental payment from the Government to Bassadone was £21,816.66 and not £87,266.67. That cannot be denied,” the GSD said.

The GSD has said that Bassadone Industrial World Limited would receive £22m in rent over 21 years.

“In a further and worrying development, the Chief Minister states that he answered in the way he did because he claims that Mr [Damon] Bossino asked for rental payments ‘to date,” the GSD said.’

“This is not the case. Mr Bossino sought information on the ‘rental amounts’.”

In their view, Mr Picardo has continued to mislead the public in an interview to GBC.

“In trying to wriggle his way out from the discomfort he is obviously experiencing, he is now also casting doubt as to whether the Government will in fact sell its properties, stating that he did not say he would but only that he could ‘potentially raise’ £10M,” Mr Bossino said.

“He, in fact and on the record said that the capital value of the Government properties ‘will release upwards of £8,844,000’.”

The GSD added that the Chief Minister should be correcting the record and not spinning further stories which have no basis in truth.

“Despite all the attempts at confusing the issues, the fundamental question remains unanswered – who, in the end, benefits from this deal?” the GSD said.

In an earlier exchange, the Government challenged criticism that the deal was bad value.

At the time the No.6 Convent Place said the agreement would release Government property worth £10m for sale, which coupled to the £7.5m premium for the land and the £2.5m worth of discounts meant the net cost to the Government for the next 22 years was £2m.