Source: https://www.guernseylegalresources.gg/CHttpHandler.ashx?documentid=86145
This is an appeal brought by the Appellant, Weighbridge Trust Limited (“WTL”), against a Decision Notice (“the Decision”) of the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (“the Commission”) made on 26th September 2023 through Mr Richard Jones KC as its appointed Senior Decision Maker (“the SDM”), to impose upon it, by way of sanction pursuant to s. 38 of the Financial Services Business (Enforcement Powers) (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law 2020 (“the EP Law”), the issuance of a public statement in the terms annexed to the Decision.
The important background facts, necessary to understand the grounds of appeal, are sufficiently summarised below. Except where indicated, this summary is taken from facts stated in the Decision Notice itself and therefore clearly accepted or found by the SDM (since it is to be emphasised that, this being an appeal process, the starting point and central focus is the Decision itself) or from further facts which were accepted by the Commission in their response to WTL’s Cause.
It is a welcome but unusual feature of this case that there is no contest by WTL to the actual findings of fact and judgments of misconduct by its one-time personnel which are made or relied on by the SDM in the Decision. All that historic misconduct is admitted.
The focus of the appeal concerns only whether, in the light of those admitted and
accepted facts, but in the all circumstances at the time of the Decision (ie on 26
September 2023), the Commission (in effect, the SDM) was justified in deciding to
issue a public statement “to the effect” of those findings but in respect of WTL itself,
or, if so, whether it was justifiable for it to decide to so in the terms in which it did,
or whether, in particular, it ought to have anonymised references to WTL in the
proposed public statement
