--- title: "Ozouf complaints upheld but islanders told nothing about why" url: https://www.nsfw.info/ozouf-complaints-upheld-details-withheld/ published: 2026-11-02T10:31:00+00:00 modified: 2026-11-02T10:31:00+00:00 author: "Chief Editor" categories: ["Government"] image: https://www.nsfw.info/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/ozouf-complaints-upheld-details-withheld-1024x572.webp summary: "Two complaints against former Deputy Philip Ozouf have been upheld but the details kept secret. A separate complaint against former Deputy Moz Scott was dismiss" publisher: NSFW (https://www.nsfw.info) --- # Ozouf complaints upheld but islanders told nothing about why **In brief:** Two complaints against former Deputy Philip Ozouf have been upheld by the Privileges and Procedures Committee, but the details of what he did wrong will not be made public. The committee has closed the matter because Ozouf is no longer a States Member, departing from its usual practice of publishing the full Commissioner for Standards report. A separate complaint against former Deputy Moz Scott was dismissed. ## Upheld but unexplained Islanders who might reasonably expect to know why a former elected representative breached the Members’ Code of Conduct will be left wondering. The Privileges and Procedures Committee has confirmed that two complaints against former Deputy Philip Ozouf were upheld following investigation by the Commissioner for Standards, yet the published summary reveals neither what the complaints concerned nor the nature of the breaches found. The committee’s justification is that Ozouf is no longer a States Member, making the matter, in its view, closed. That reasoning sits uneasily with the committee’s own stated position: “Whatever the outcome, the public must be assured that Members remain accountable for their actions whilst they are representing Islanders. That is how we build trust.” Accountability, it seems, has its limits. Bailiwick Express reports that the committee’s usual practice is to publish the full Commissioner for Standards report when a breach is found. On this occasion it weighed data protection against the public interest and decided to publish only the outcomes, using its discretion to withhold the full reports. The committee received the findings in July, after investigations completed in the run-up to the election, and described dealing with reports concerning former Members as “highly unusual”. Notably, Privileges and Procedures Committee chair Deputy Carina Alves asked for her preference for publishing the full report to be formally recorded in the document, suggesting the decision to withhold was not unanimous in spirit, even if agreed in practice. ## A turbulent final chapter The upheld complaints are the latest chapter in what Bailiwick Express describes as a turbulent final period in office for the former External Relations Minister. In September 2025, States Members voted 29 to 17 to suspend Ozouf without pay for 28 days following a speeding case. He had been fined £575 for driving his BMW at 31mph in a 15mph green lane, failing to display a valid insurance disc, and subsequently missing three parish hall inquiries. A month after returning to the Assembly, he faced a second suspension after pleading guilty to immigration offences. Members voted 31 to eight to suspend him with pay as a “neutral act” pending sentencing. In February 2026, the Royal Court sentenced him to 120 hours of community service after he admitted to five breaches of Jersey’s immigration law, having employed five Rwandan nationals at his launderette in breach of their work permits. He was External Relations Minister for some of the 18 months during which the offending took place. During sentencing, Ozouf’s lawyer told the Royal Court: “His political career, that he has devoted so much of his life to, is in tatters.” The newly published summary does not establish whether either upheld complaint relates to those events. ## Scott cleared, but unhappy about it The same report also cleared former Deputy Moz Scott over repeated comments made during online exchanges with a member of the public. The Commissioner found that her comments formed part of protected political speech, and the Privileges and Procedures Committee agreed there had been no breach. Scott, however, raised concerns about the decision to identify her despite her privacy and data-protection objections. She also objected to being named alongside Ozouf, against whom two separate complaints were upheld, arguing that this risked confusion and reputational harm. It is a fair point: being cleared and being found in breach are very different outcomes, and lumping the two together in a single publication does little for clarity. Committee member Deputy Karen Wilson declared an interest and took no part in considering either complaint. ## The NSFW Perspective There is something faintly absurd about a committee that publishes a summary specifically to demonstrate accountability, while simultaneously declining to say what anyone actually did wrong. “Trust us, there were breaches” is not, historically, a phrase that has done much to build public confidence in institutions. The committee’s own chair wanted the full report published, which tells you something. Jersey is a small island. People here tend to know their politicians personally, follow their careers closely, and take a dim view of information being managed rather than shared. When a public figure holds ministerial office during a period in which, it later emerges, they were committing offences, the public interest in full transparency is not a minor consideration to be quietly outweighed by data protection. It is rather the whole point of having a standards process at all. Whether the withheld complaints relate to the immigration or speeding matters, or to something else entirely, we are apparently not to know. One hopes the committee reflects carefully on whether “closed because he left” is really the standard it wants to set for future cases. *Source: [Bailiwick Express](https://www.bailiwickexpress.com/news/details-withheld-over-two-upheld-complaints-against-former-politician)*