Senator Gorst's Statement on Ukraine (2) (FOI)

​Request 685736376

In a "Statement on Ukraine" made on 1 March 2022, Senator Ian Gorst announced that he had “instructed officials and agencies to establish an operational taskforce to ensure that all relevant agencies … are coordinated in actively identifying and investigating relevant Russian assets in Jersey.”

It has been confirmed that the instruction was a “verbal direction to officers”.

Operational taskforce instructions (FOI)

Please can you provide the following information:

Copies of any notes (whether formal or informal) or other documents (including, without limitation, emails) recording (in whole or in part) the instruction (direction) or any aspect thereof.

Response

The following response has been provided by the States of Jersey Police.

Please see attached redacted document. Please note that Articles 27(1) (National Security), 41 (International Relations) and 42(a)-(d), (g)-(h) (Law Enforcement) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 apply to parts of this document. 

Russia Ukraine Illicit Finance Operational Taskforce release_Redacted.pdf​

Articles applied

27      National security

(1) Information which does not fall within Article 26A(1) is absolutely exempt information if exemption from the obligation to disclose it under this Law is required to safeguard national security.

41      International relations

(1)     Information is qualified exempt information if its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice relations between Jersey and –

(a)     the United Kingdom;

(b)     a State other than Jersey;

(c)     an international organization; or

(d)     an international court.

(2)     Information is qualified exempt information if its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice –

(a)     any Jersey interests abroad; or

(b)     the promotion or protection by Jersey of any such interest.

(3)     Information is also qualified exempt information if it is confidential information obtained from –

(a)     a State other than Jersey;

(b)     an international organization; or

(c)     an international court.

(4)     In this Article, information obtained from a State, organization or court is confidential while –

(a)     the terms on which it was obtained require it to be held in confidence; or

(b)     the circumstances in which it was obtained make it reasonable for the State, organization or court to expect that it will be so held.

(5)     In this Article –

“international court” means an international court that is not an international organization and that was established –

(a)     by a resolution of an international organization of which the United Kingdom is a member; or

(b)     by an international agreement to which the United Kingdom was a party;

“international organization” means an international organization whose members include any two or more States, or any organ of such an organization;

“State” includes the government of a State and any organ of its government, and references to a State other than Jersey include references to a territory for whose external relations the United Kingdom is formally responsible.

42      Law enforcement

Information is qualified exempt information if its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice –

(a)     the prevention, detection or investigation of crime, whether in Jersey or elsewhere;

(b)     the apprehension or prosecution of offenders, whether in respect of offences committed in Jersey or elsewhere;

(c)     the administration of justice, whether in Jersey or elsewhere;

(d)     the assessment or collection of a tax or duty or of an imposition of a similar nature;

(g)     the proper supervision or regulation of financial services; or

(h)     the exercise, by the Jersey Financial Services Commission, of any function imposed on it by any enactment.

​Public Interest Test

Articles 41 and 42 are qualified exemptions, meaning that they are only engaged when, on balance, the public interest is best served by withholding the requested information. 

The States of Jersey Police does not consider that there are any public interest arguments in favour of disclosing the information requested.

There is a public interest in knowing that Jersey has established an appropriate taskforce to identify and investigate Russian assets held in Jersey, pursuant to sanctions imposed following the Ukraine conflict. However, the details of this work must be kept confidential for the reasons set out below.

The requested material relates to the detailed proceedings of the Ukraine sanctions operational taskforce. 

Releasing these details would undermine the successful identification and investigation of sanctioned assets held in Jersey, including by providing third parties with a detailed understanding of Jersey’s investigative policies and procedures, in turn leading to a greater chance of damage and harm occurring to Jersey’s citizens and economy, and the evasion of sanctions.

Given the damage that releasing this information under the terms of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 would do to the Island’s ability to successfully pursue an effective sanctions regime, there is a clear public interest in maintaining the exemption and against releasing the information.