Together Gibraltar backs GSD in call for transparency on Victoria Keys project

Together Gibraltar has backed GSD calls for greater transparency about the Victoria Keys project.

The party had already raised questions about the developers behind the project and how the venture was set up without a tender process, as well as concerns about potential conflicts of interest.

"It is the height of audacity for Government to expect the people of Gibraltar to have to swallow this project while it was paid for with their money, acquired by mortgaging their own homes, in order to enrich 'the usual suspects' as we call them, who are linked in one way or another to people in high office," Together Gibraltar said in a statement.

"Land reclamation should be for the benefit of all Gibraltarians, rather than the few who are close with government and have negotiated convenient agreements behind closed doors, absent of public scrutiny and competitive forces."

Together Gibraltar said full disclosure of the ownership and funding arrangements for this project would allow the public to judge whether the benefit of this land reclamation and economic development was spread across the community.

The party also pledged that, "when" elected into office, it would implement directives and policies that revealed ultimate beneficial ownerships within government projects funded by the tax payer.

"In any other part of the world it would be laughable, if not simply illegal, to see a Government using its own people’s money without having to account for it either in Parliament or outside, in order to launch private developments, especially when we know they involve key figures of the community connected to ministers and their family members," Together Gibraltar said.

"It is an absolutely outrageous state of affairs and we commend the GSD for reiterating this point."

"Questions must be answered immediately if we really want to call ourselves a 'democracy' and nothing else."