New Public Trustee to be appointed

Monday 07 May 2018

Lawyer, Luis Gonzalez, is to be nominated as Guernsey's new Public Trustee, replacing the former incumbent who resigned following the Ferbrache and Farrell scandal.

Catherine Rowe resigned from the position on 6 November, 2017 following the confirmation that the Office of the Public Trustee had paid the law firm £300,000 out of public funds.

The Committee for Economic Development is responsible for the Office of the Public Trustee and at the time the committee's President was Deputy Peter Ferbrache, who is a consultant for the law firm.

A review of the events leading up to the £300,000 of public money being spent on legal work, done by Ferbrache and Farrell, found that the Public Trustee who authorised that work, was acting within her powers. The review also found both Ms Rowe and Deputy Ferbrache had done nothing wrong. 

Following that, the ED Committee sought an alternative suitable candidate for the role of Public Trustee and it is now recommending the States appoint Mr Luis Gonzalez to the role for a period of five years, with immediate effect.

His appointment will be debated and voted on during a States meeting due to start on Wednesday 16 May. ED said it will also use that meeting to "publicly express its gratitude for all of Ms Rowe’s hard work during her time in office as Public Trustee."

Mr Gonzalez qualified as a lawyer in 1985 and has worked in a variety of jurisdictions, including Guernsey since 1999. He is currently a director at Investec and he previously spent nine years as a director and managing director at Rothschild Trust. He is a past committee member of the Guernsey Association of Trustees, which he joined in 2001. He has been assisting the office of the Public Trustee on operational matters, since December 2017.