Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:49 pm on 2 October 2018.
The scandal of the answer that you've just given, First Minister, is that the company has put more information into the public domain than the Government, which is meant to be acting in the public interest.
Now, let's turn to Natural Resources Wales. You referred to the incoming chief executive. She's admitted serious failings at the organisation, which she attributed to incompetence—ineptitude, incompetence, but nothing more concerning. Yesterday, however, the Public Accounts Committee was told by the head of the UK Forest Products Association, David Sulman, that, in his view, and I quote,
'these actions were premeditated, deliberate, and made in full knowledge of the facts'.
'We really cannot believe,' he stated emphatically,
'that the actions we've seen...can simply be explained away by incompetence.'
One million pounds, First Minister, in Welsh public money has been lost, and the lead industry body is alleging dishonesty and deliberate malpractice by a public authority. Will you be asking that this matter is now referred to the police?