Cicra denied States cash to probe 'market abuse'
AN INVESTIGATION into allegations of 'significant market abuse' connected to a States contract will not go ahead as Commerce and Employment has refused the necessary funding to the regulator.
However, the department said the overall costs of the investigation were unknown and it could not agree to what could have amounted to an 'open-ended commitment of public money'.
The C&E stance emerged in answers to written questions from Castel deputy Barry Paint, who had heard rumours that Cicra had been effectively prevented from investigating significant competition market abuse in Guernsey. He had this confirmed when he wrote to the regulatory body with his concerns.
He said he felt this was a matter of serious public interest, was what the regulator should be there to investigate, and more effort should have been made by Commerce and Employment to secure the funds for this work.
'When the regulator tells you something might not be right, surely there must be other means where the money can come from?' he said.
'If Commerce and Employment have not got the money to do it, they could go to Treasury and Resources saying, "We believe it should be done and this is what it costs".
'It has to be done, for the sake of the island's reputation as much as anything else. This is a matter of public interest.'
