According to the Jersey Evening Post, chief minister Ian Gorst accepted Ozouf’s resignation on Tuesday, after the senator offered to step aside to avoid speculation getting in the way of a review into the Jersey Innovation Fund (JIF).
JIF was set up to boost the island’s economy by providing funding and support to entrepreneurs, start-ups and established organisations with innovative investment.
It came under close scrutiny when a government whistleblower told ITV News in June that a company that received a £400,000 loan from the fund may have disappeared.
Jersey’s comptroller and auditor general, Karen McConnell, announced in September that she would undertake a review of JIF.
Her reports found that just 26% of scheduled repayments had been made as of December 2016.
JIF was proposed by treasury minister Alan Maclean in 2013 when he was economic development minister. Ozouf has had responsibility for JIF since November 2014.
Previous accounting officer
According to local newspaper the Bailiwick Express, following Ozouf’s resignation, more details are emerging about the resignation of Mike King, who was accounting officer of the fund until he resigned in November 2016.
King stepped down just days before McConnell’s report was published, which was deeply critical of him.
The fund’s former accounting officer tendered his resignation and received six months’ pay in lieu of notice, thought to be in the region of £70,000.
