Hayles in hot water

FORMER Member of Parliament for Hanover Western Ian Hayles — one of four vice-presidents of the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) — could be the subject of a major police investigation based on recommendations from the Office of the Contractor General (OCG).

In a report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday the OCG said, based on an investigation that it launched in April 2015, it found what it described as “prima facie evidence of forgery” in a sketch plan which was submitted to what was then the Hanover Parish Council by Hayles and his wife.

According to the OCG, it is referring Hayles and his wife Charlotte Alexander-Hayles to the commissioner of police for further investigation, pursuant to Sections 3, 5 and 9 of the Forgery Act 1942.

“The common law offence of conspiracy is an agreement by two or more persons to commit an unlawful act, coupled with an intent to achieve the agreements objective, and action or conduct that furthers the agreement; a combination for an unlawful purpose. In satisfying the offence of conspiracy under the common law, no overt act is necessary to satisfy a charge of conspiracy save the act of agreeing,” the OCG said.

“The OCG is also referring Mr Ian Hayles to the commissioner of police for further investigation in respect of the allegations which were made by Miss Shernet Haughton concerning the attempt to influence the actions of a public officer in the lawful conduct of her duties contrary to the Section 14(7) Corruption Prevention Act. This referral is also being made to the commissioner of police for further investigation in respect of whether the aforementioned acts by Mr Ian Hayles give rise to a conflict of interest,” the OCG said.

In 2015 the OCG launched an investigation into the alleged construction of several buildings without the approval of the Hanover Parish Council by Hayles, who was then the MP for Hanover Western and a former minister of state in the Ministry of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change in a PNP Administration.

The OCG said its decision to undertake the investigation was further prompted by an anonymous allegation which it received in the form of a typewritten note along with accompanying attachments.

In the note it was alleged that family members of Hayles, including his wife, his wife’s daughter, and his mother, operate the company ‘Just One Service’, which undertook the development of a plaza in Orange Bay, Hanover, without approval.

The investigation was completed in 2017 but Hayles went to the Supreme Court and sought an injunction to bar the tabling of a report to Parliament.

Hayles applied to the court for declarations and orders in relation to the report arising from the investigation. He obtained a temporary injunction restraining the publication of the OCG report until the full hearing of the judicial review.

But last December the Supreme Court dismissed the application for leave to apply for judicial review, paving the way for the report to be tabled in Parliament.

Among the key findings of the OCG was that there was no evidence to support the allegation that Hayles did not spend the money allocated to him through the Constituency Development Fund and instead had people collect the money and take it back to him.

The OCG also concluded that the sketch plan for two lots in Cousins Cove, Hanover, which was submitted to the parish council by a Kesmore Rattary to obtain planning and building permission, was authorised by the former MP’s wife.

“The ‘Sketch plan of part of Cousins Cove Lot 23 and 24’ was purported to have been prepared and signed by Mr Andrew Bromfield. [But] Mr Bromfield, however, distanced himself and his firm from the preparation of the document when he advised the OCG that the document was not prepared by him and that his signature had been forged. The document is a false document and its source is to be determined.

“Notwithstanding Mr Kesmore Rattary’s disclosure that he was not aware that the documents were fraudulent, the OCG is hereby referring Mr Rattary to the commissioner of police in order to determine whether he committed a breach of the Forgery Act or any Act as an agent in furtherance of the process of submitting the said application form,” the report said.

The OCG also referred Hayles’ mother, Pauline Gray (nee Brown), to the commissioner of police for further investigation with respect to the circumstances under which lot 24, Cousins Cove, Hanover, was sold to her.