A former FIAU official who was fired without explanation and claims he was stopped from investigating senior government officials has filed a case with the Industrial Relations Tribunal, claiming discrimination.
The application was filed against Attorney General Peter Grech, as chairman of the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit.
Former Police Inspector Jonathan Ferris was employed at the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit in November 2016 but was sacked in June, while still in his probation period.
In the application he says he had been encouraged to join the FIAU. He had asked to be seconded from the police force but his request was not accepted, so he resigned. On 16 June 2017 he was sacked from the FIAU. He says he was sacked for political reasons, which is unacceptable and discriminatory.
He pointed out that Finance Minister Edward Scicluna had, days after his dismissal, passed certain comments that clearly indicated that the partisan agenda of the defendants.
Ferris said he had conducted investigations into politically exposed persons with regard to a big political controversy and feels that he was dismissed as a form of intimidation and to stop him from obtaining results from the said investigations, which had by then reached an advanced stage.
He said that once details of the investigations and the results are heard during the proceedings it will clearly emerge that the defendants had an interest to obstruct his work.
The application also says that Ferris is a capable and trusted officer and there were no other reasons, save for those mentioned above, for his dismissal from the FIAU.
The former inspector is asking the tribunal to declare that his dismissal was unfair and discriminatory and to award compensation.
The application was signed by lawyers Roselyn Borg, Jason Azzopardi and Andrew Borg Cardona.
from The Malta Independent http://ift.tt/2vdvF8F
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