Fallagate was a political scandal in

Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...

in 2007, over the desire by Deputies of the

States of Deliberation The States of Guernsey (), officially the States of Deliberation and sometimes referred to as the Government of Guernsey, is the parliament and government of the British Crown dependency of Guernsey. Some laws and ordinances approved by the ...

to appear corruption free. The desire to appear corruption free cost the island's 40,000 taxpayers £60 each, and the resulting scandal led to the resignation of

Laurie Morgan Laurie Morgan (17 December 1930 – 18 January 2018) was a Deputy of the States of Guernsey, the parliament of the Bailiwick of Guernsey. He was Guernsey's first Chief Minister and was elected to the post in May 2004. His term of office was due ...

, the then

Chief Minister of Guernsey The Chief Minister of Guernsey chaired the Policy Council, which consists of the heads of each of the ten departments of the States of Guernsey. Guernsey operates a system of consensus, committees-based government. The Policy Council is explic ...

, and the Policy Council, a committee of the States.

Background

Tender for Princess Elizabeth Hospital extension

The States of Guernsey put out a tender to build an extension on the Princess Elizabeth Hospital in

St. Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( ; ; ; ) was an apostle of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was a fisherman and one of the Apostles in the New Testament, Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus. The title First-Called () used by the Eastern Orthodox Chu ...

. Several firms put in tenders, including R. G. Falla Ltd, Guernseys largest builder, whose bid was the cheapest by £2.4million.

Stuart Falla

Stuart Falla took over his father's construction company, R. G. Falla Ltd, in the 1980s, and has been a shareholder since. In 2004 Falla was elected as one of the Deputies to the

for the parish of Castel, and became the minister for commerce and employment.

Conflict of interest

Due to an apparent conflict of interest between his position as a Deputy, and his part ownership of R. G. Falla, Stuart Falla chose not to attend a committee meeting to discuss which bid would get the contract to build the hospital extension. At the time of the meeting, R. G. Falla was the preferred tender at £25million, costing £2.4million less than the next best quote. But when the conflict of interest was pointed out, senior Deputies pressured Stuart Falla, a recently elected Deputy of the States, to either resign his seat or withdraw his bid. R. G. Falla subsequently withdrew its tender. The contract was then awarded to the next best quote, costing the States £2.4 million.

References

{{Reflist

External links

The Princess Elizabeth Hospital Clinical Block - Consideration of circumstances which led to the withdrawal of the preferred tender in August 2006
Politics of Guernsey Political scandals