ICO Decision: Request For Sandys 360 Records
On 25 July 2019, Information Commissioner Gitanjali Gutierrez issued Decision 20/2019, which addresses whether the Accountant General’s Department correctly transferred a request under the Public Access to Information [PATI] Act 2010 to the Ministry of Finance Headquarters.
“The Applicant sought a complete list of payments made to Sandys 360 by the Government of Bermuda from 1 January 2007 to 5 May 2016 as well as all paperwork related to a payment in August 2011 of $807,000 from the Government Reserve Fund to Sandys 360. The Accountant General’s Department received the request and transferred it to the Ministry of Finance Headquarters,” a spokesperson said.
“With all parties’ agreement, the Information Commissioner’s Office [ICO] sought to address the requests for records related to the list of payments and duplicate payments held by both the Ministry of Finance Headquarters and the Accountant General’s Department through early resolution under section 46 of the PATI Act. These efforts were unsuccessful.
“The Information Commissioner progressed the matter to an independent review under section 47 of the PATI Act. During this review, further efforts to resolve the issues were unsuccessful, although both public authorities held records that were responsive to the request.
“The Information Commissioner has found that the Accountant General’s Department was not justified in transferring the request in accordance with section 13[5] of the PATI Act because it failed to properly determine whether or not it held records responsive to the PATI request prior to deciding to transfer the request.
“The Information Commissioner has also found that the duty to assist requesters in accordance with section 12[2][a] of the PATI Act would have required the Accountant General’s Department to inform the requester that the Ministry of Finance Headquarters may also hold records responsive to the request.
“The Information Commissioner has ordered the Ministry of Finance Headquarters and Accountant General’s Department to each conduct a reasonable search for additional records responsive to the PATI request. In addition, each public authority must issue a new initial decision on whether to grant access or deny access to the records located during this review along with any additional records located on or before Monday, 9 September 2019.
A full version of Decision 20/2019 follows below [PDF here]:
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