Losses of £27m written off during the island’s foray into film making are to be referred to the Public Accounts Committee.

But Tynwald has rejected the idea of a select committee inquiry into the losses from the media development fund.

LibVan leader Kate Beecroft could barely contain her anger at suggestions by Treasury member Bill Shimmins that there was nothing to be gained from looking back.

She fumed: ’This was an investment that lost £27m. Committees have been formed to investigate happenings that have lost an awful lot less than that and nobody said "oh, we should be moving on".

’If anyone thinks it’s not worth having a look at what lost the Isle of Man public £27m, I dare they would go out on the street and tell the public that.

’No, we don’t have to move on because we have to learn the lessons from the past.’

Calling for a select committee investigation, she said: ’It was obvious there was a lack of governance in this process. That’s what’s been lacking. And the taxpayer, the public funds have suffered severely by that.’

’This is not about pointing a finger at who did this, who did that. This is about governance of the whole matter which clearly went wrong. We need to know why, and when and how.’

Up to May 8 this year, £20,664,000 has been written off on films made during the time CinemaNX was managing the Media Development Fund.

pinewood

A further £6,190,000 was written off in the same period on films when government had relied on Pinewood film advisors.

Mrs Beecroft said that made a total of nearly £27m of public funds written off with more write-offs likely in the future, in her opinion.

She said that money could have paid for 100 nurses, 80 policemen or 90 high school teachers for 10 years.

But Mr Shimmin said it was ’clearly painful for all of us’ that very large losses had been incurred but he was not convinced what benefits a committee inquiry would bring.

He pointed out that the fund was in ’run-off mode’ with no new investments made in films for some time. ’It’s a sunset situation. It’s questionable what can be gained by looking backwards when we have no plans to re-enter this market,’ he said.

Tynwald rejected the call for a select committee inquiry and backed instead an amendment tabled by Douglas East MHK Clare Bettison that the matter be referred to the PAC to identify whether further investigation is needed.

That amendment had been further amended by Tim Baker (Ayre and Michael) to include that the PAC consider whether any changes to governance procedures are required as a result.

CinemaNX invested £39.7m in films between 2007 and 2012. But only £16.8m was recouped. More than £9m was lost on the Zac Efron film ’Me and Orson Welles’, which was partially filmed in the island.

In 2012, the media development fund transferred to Pinewood Pictures as part of an agreement between the government and Pinewood Studios. During this time, the island invested £20m and lost just under £6.2m in six years. This included £1.2m lost on the film sequel of the BBC spy drama Spooks’.

Treasury sold its remaining shares in Pinewood in 2016, doubling its money on the investment.