Deputy facing code of conduct complaint

The founder of a Guernsey cannabis cultivation firm has said he is planning a complaint against a local politician he claims shared private company information.

Paul Smith, of The House of Green Limited, said following a story in the Guernsey Press earlier this week, he was set to lodge a formal complaint alleging Deputy Rob Curgenven had breached States rules.

He alleged Deputy Curgenven showed company shareholding records that were only meant to be seen by him to the media.

Curgenven declined to comment, as he said he had no knowledge of the complaint.

The Guernsey Press story related to a complaint which had been lodged with the commissioner for standards relating to Home Affairs Committee President Marc Leadbeater and his alleged involvement with local cannabis cultivation firms.

Deputy Leadbeater is leading a proposal to launch an investigation into whether cannabis should be legalised in Guernsey.

In an email to shareholders shown to the BBC, Smith said Leadbeater had resigned as a director of the company to focus on politics and had transferred his shares to his father.

He went on to state that on 13 February Curgenven wrote to the company to request a copy of the shares register, as he was investigating the involvement of Leadbeater in the company.

In his email to shareholders, Smith claimed the request for details was "part of an ongoing personal vendetta that Deputy Curgenven has with Deputy Leadbeater".

He explained how, in correspondence with Curgenven, he said the register of shares was private and should not be shared, but "evidently had been" shared with local media outlets.

In January, Curgenven was removed from a committee looking at how to reform the police complaints commission.

Leadbeater said the decision was made after the deputy allegedly posted on social media about police conduct.

At the start of the political term Leadbeater proposed Curgenven should be a member of the Home Affairs Committee but he was beaten by Deputy Simon Vermeulen in the election for the role.

Guernsey's commissioner for standards, Andrew Ozanne, cannot comment on complaints as part of the rules surrounding the States' code of conduct.

Update 16 March: An earlier version of this article stated that Guernsey's commissioner for standards, Andrew Ozanne, "said he cannot confirm or deny" whether a complaint had been received. Ozanne was not contacted for comment. The Commissioner is prohibited by the States' code of conduct from confirming or denying complaints, and the article should have explained this policy rather than implying direct comment.

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