Former CIDA exec mulls legal action after losing prominent ...

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A former federal bureaucrat was about to be named the deputy head of a major international organization in the Caribbean until he was linked to a public service watchdog?s finding of ?gross mismanagement? last month.
Now, former Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) Director-General, Naresh Singh, says he is considering legal action to combat what he believes is an unfair undermining of his personal and professional reputation, according an o-canada.com news report.
The issue highlights an ongoing controversy surrounding the Public Sector Service Integrity Commissioner?s refusal to publicly identify bureaucrats his office believes are guilty of wrongdoing.
Last month, the Caribbean Community offered Singh, who is originally from Guyana, a job as its Deputy Secretary-General. The position is prominent as CARICOM represents 15 Caribbean countries; Canada is currently negotiating a free trade agreement with the organization.

Naresh Singh

But CARICOM withdrew the offer last month after a Quebec newspaper identified Singh as the CIDA manager accused in Public Sector Integrity Commissioner Mario Dion?s report of using government resources, including administrative staff, for private business.
Even though Dion did not identify Singh by name, CARICOM cited the commissioner?s investigation in a statement explaining its decision to rescind the job offer.
?Subsequent to the offer and Dr. Singh?s acceptance of that offer, information came to light regarding certain allegations against Dr. Singh which had been the subject of a confidential investigation by the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner,? the statement read.
?The allegations and findings of that statutory body of inquiry are of grave concern to the Caribbean Community and the Secretary-General. The Secretary-General has taken the necessary action to repudiate the offer.?
CARICOM would not say whether its concerns were based on the Quebec newspaper report that the CIDA official was Singh, or on additional information it received from other sources.
Singh acknowledged he met with the Integrity Commissioner?s staff once for an hour to discuss allegations brought against him by a subordinate he said was upset with him.
He also admitted he used his CIDA telephone and email for personal reasons ?from time to time,? though he maintained it was to an extent no different from anyone else working in government or even the private sector, and that it was never for personal gain.
?(Dion?s) conclusions of gross mismanagement and conflict of interest could never have described my career or things I have done at CIDA,? Singh said. ?But now the world is thinking that.?
Singh would neither confirm nor deny that Dion?s report was about him. Instead, he maintained that the report?s conclusions could not apply to him if they were drawn from ?any fair and reasonable process of what I have done.?
Dion has consistently refused to name bureaucrats accused of wrongdoing in his reports, citing privacy concerns and saying he will only identify officials when it?s in the public interest.
That has prompted criticism from whistleblower groups who argue such anonymity protects guilty officials ? many of whom leave before investigations are complete ? from any real consequences and leaves prospective employers in the dark.
Singh?s situation also now raises questions about what happens if a person is identified ? rightly or wrongly ? as the subject of a Public Service Integrity Commissioner finding of wrongdoing by media reports or other means.
Singh said he has hired a Montreal lawyer to look at ways to clear his reputation, but ?it?s unclear how to proceed and how to prevent such things from happening to others.?
Tyler Sommers, co-ordinator of watchdog group Democracy Watch, said refusing to name a wrongdoer could be a way for the Public Service Integrity Commissioner to reduce the chances his office will be dragged before the courts and forced to defend its findings.
?If they?re able to distance themselves and say they didn?t have any involvement in releasing an individual?s information, I don?t really see how (the individual) could bring them before the courts and challenge that,? Sommers said.
David Hutton, executive director of Fair, said whistleblower groups like his have long raised concerns about what they see as a lack of due process in the Public Service Integrity Commissioner?s investigations.
?If you have due process, then that protects everybody,? Hutton said. ?Everybody who?s involved needs to have due process rights, and that seems to be what?s missing.?
But Dion?s spokeswoman, Edith Lachapelle, dismissed suggestions the commissioner withholds names from his reports because he is afraid of a court challenge.
Lachapelle said Dion is ?entirely confident? any of the findings in his report could be defended in a legal challenge. She also defended the investigative process, confirming commissioner staff met with the CIDA official only once during the investigation, but adding that the ?wrongdoer? got a chance to submit feedback on the final report before it was released.

Source: http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2013/03/17/former-cida-exec-mulls-legal-action-after-losing-prominent-caricom-post/

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