Court: Dillon acted illegally

NATIONAL Security Minister Edmund Dillon acted illegally when he ordered former director of intelligence of the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) Carlton Dennie to hand over his duties to director of criminal intelligence Matthew Andrews in 2015. This was the finding of High Court judge Margaret Mohammed, who declared the minister acted illegally when he gave the directive to Dennie.

Dennie, who joined the agency in 1997 after being transferred from the Defence Force, which he joined in 1981, was fired from the agency on December 14, 2015. The former SSA intelligence director has filed a separate lawsuit challenging his dismissal, claiming he was fired after he refused to assist and be part of a racial conspiracy to rid the agency of workers of East Indian descent at the agency.

This wrongful-dismissal lawsuit is still to be determined. Dennie was one of five directors axed after the change of administration in 2015. The others are: director Bisnath Maharaj; deputy director Keron Ganpat; assistant director of information and communications technology Alanzo Flemming; and assistant director of administration Seukeran Singh. They have all filed wrongful dismissal lawsuits against the State,

Dennie, who worked with the agency for 19 years, is claiming a total loss of $993,720. Dennie, in his lawsuit, argued by Anand Ramlogan,SC, Jayanti Lutchmedial and Douglas Bayley, held that since there was no power in the SSA Act for the appointment of an interim director, Dillon’s directive to him to hand over his duties to Andrews was illegal.

In her ruling, the judge said the SSA Act contemplates that the responsibilities of director can only be handed over to another person who is appointed director or acting director. “The minister failed to comply with his duty under the SSA Act by removing the duties and associated responsibilities from the former director of the SSA and bestowing it on a person who was not appointed by the President as director of the SSA. The minister’s directive was therefore illegal and ultra vires.”

She also ruled that the minister with the responsibility for the SSA, who was accountable for its decisions, did not take reasonable steps to notify Dennie of the approval or refusal of his request under the FOIA. Mohammed quashed Dillon’s decision to deny Dennie access to the information he requested and ordered the SSA to reconsider the request within 21 days.

Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes, Zelica Haynes-Soo Hon, Crystal Madhosingh and Vincent Jardine appeared for Dillon, who was also ordered to pay Dennie’s legal costs.