MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falkland Islands: Weekly Penguin News Update

Headlines: Liberty Lodge: ready and welcoming; Speaker resigns over insider trading; Formal hearing over drugs loss.

Liberty Lodge: ready and welcomingBEFORE invited guests, the 1982 veterans' house Liberty Lodge was officially opened on Tuesday evening. Story on page 2. Pictured from the front: Derek 'Smokey' Cole of the Falklands Veterans' Association, Chairman of the South Atlantic Medal Association, Lt Col Tony Davies MBE and Russell Thompson the Director of Fundraising for the Royal British Legion. Speaker resigns over insider tradingTHE Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Lewis Clifton, OBE, has stepped down after being fined £59,500 for insider trading. Councillors accepted Mr Clifton's resignation on Wednesday after the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA) announced the penalty. He was fined for instructing Byron Holdings Ltd, of which he is a director, to buy shares in Desire Petroleum plc. The deals were done on four occasions between November 2007 and February 2008, when Mr Clifton, as a non-executive director of Desire, had insider knowledge that the oil company was in talks over a joint venture, or 'farm-in' agreement. When the agreement was made public on February 25 2008, Desire's share price rose 36 per cent from 34.25p to 46.5p. By buying the shares before other traders knew about the farm-in, Byron's potential profit was £86,030. As one-third shareholder of Byron, Mr Clifton's share of the profit would have amounted to £28,676. The FSA ruled that Mr Clifton's conduct was not deliberate, but he had not considered whether his direction to buy the shares was lawful. The company has been fined £86,030, effectively wiping out the profit it could have made from the deal if the shares had been sold on the day of the farm-in announcement. Mr Clifton, who has also resigned as non-executive director of Desire, said: "I regret that I failed to apprise myself fully of the dealing restrictions applying to a director in my position and I accept that my conduct fell short of the standard to be expected of a director of an AIM listed company. "I did not seek to conceal Byron's purchases having disclosed them to the Chairman of Desire, without prompting, in February 2008. I have co-operated fully with the FSA investigation." Meanwhile, it emerged that councillors were aware last year that the deals had been called into question. Councillor Mike Summers said: "I had known about Lewis's difficulty with these transactions for quite some time and I was taken unawares that it had reached this position." He added: "There had been some chatter on bulletin boards last year about this issue and I'd spoken to Lewis about it then on behalf of members. At that point the matter was being dealt with by the London Stock Exchange, which took no further action. Neither I, nor any other members had any knowledge of the involvement of the FSA." Councillors said in an official statement that Mr Clifton's actions were not connected with his duties as Speaker, but added: "The Assembly accepts his resignation is the correct action in order to maintain the integrity and good reputation of the House and the Falkland Islands Government. The Assembly thanks Mr Clifton for his service to the community." The FSA's director of enforcement, Margaret Cole, commented: "Mr Clifton held a position of trust as a non-executive director of Desire, but he fell short of the high standards expected of someone in that position." Councillors will now put together a long-list of potential Speakers and approach possible candidates for the - largely ceremonial - role. The new Speaker will be sworn in at the February 27 meeting of the Legislative Assembly. Formal hearing over drugs lossA FORMAL hearing is expected to take place following further investigations into the conduct of the Chief of The Royal Falkland Islands Police, Paul Elliott. Chief Executive Tim Thorogood said that he had now received the report from former Senior Magistrate Alison Thompson, which was requested following the loss of a substantial quantity of cocaine being held at the Police Station. On the basis of that report he said he had decided that further enquiries should be made by the Principal Crown Counsel prior to determining what issues should be considered by a formal disciplinary hearing. Under the FIG Management Code, such a hearing will be presided over by a senior director not involved in the service, advised by human resources and legal representatives. The Chief Executive said the purpose of the hearing under the Code was to formally consider whether misconduct had taken place and if so how serious it was. He said: "The senior director presiding at the hearing will provide me with a further report and recommendations at which point I'll need to decide what further action, if any, to take."