Ex-SSA member wins lawsuit over unfair disciplinary action

AN ex-member of the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) has won his lawsuit over disciplinary action against him for allegedly failing to tell the agency he had a lawsuit against the State over an injury he received while he was a police officer.

On Friday, Justice Margaret Mohammed declared that the SSA’s decision to find Fazal Ghany guilty of certain disciplinary offences was unlawful and procedurally unfair. She also declared that the SSA’s findings and assumptions of fact from the purported investigation lacked supporting evidence.

But Mohammed did not award Ghany any compensation, saying it was her opinion that the declarations were enough to clear his name “which is important to him, given that he has a career in law enforcement and the nature of the allegations against him were serious.”

Before joining the SSA, Ghany was a police officer who suffered serious injuries when he slipped and fell down a flight of stairs at the Anti-Kidnapping Squad’s Couva office. He was left partially paralysed and had to retire early in 2011.

He sued the State after his claim under the Protective Services (Compensation) Act was denied, as his injury was not listed under the legislation. He said when he interviewed for the position at the SSA, he told the panel about the lawsuit.

In 2015, the Privy Council ruled in his favour and ordered compensation for him, referring the issue to the compensation committee to calculate the amount he should receive.

Ghany filed another lawsuit because there was a delay in appointing members of the committee, and was successful.

In his lawsuit before Mohammed, Ghany complained that days after he won his second case, he was suspended with pay, pending an investigation into four disciplinary charges.

He was then told he had been found guilty of the four disciplinary offences. He was not fired, as his three-year contract was due to come to an end that month.

In her judgment, Mohammed said the decision to find Ghany guilty of the charges was unlawfully and procedurally unfair, as the SSA did not follow its own two-tiered disciplinary procedure.

She said Ghany was not informed of the specifics of the charges he was accused of, was not given an opportunity to respond before being found guilty and was not given any rationale for the decision to find him guilty.

Ghany was represented by Dinesh Rambally, Kiel Taklalsingh, and Stefan Ramkissoon. The SSA was represented by Randall Hector, Cherisse Nixon, Tracey Vidale, Kelisha Bello, Keisha Peters and Ryan Grant.