Family launch legal challenge to inquiry into sacking of AM
CARL Sargeant’s family is to mount a legal challenge to the format of the QCled inquiry into the way the late politician was treated by First Minister Carwyn Jones, saying they have effectively been shut out from it.
Unless the rules are changed so that Mr Jones can be cross-examined by the family’s barrister as part of the inquiry, an application for judicial review of the inquiry’s ground rules will be made to the High Court.
Father-of-two Mr Sargeant was sacked from his role as Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children last November following unspecified allegations that he had sexually harassed a number of women.
He denied the allegations, and was never told the identity of his accusers. Four days after his dismissal he is believed to have committed suicide. A pre-inquest hearing has been told Mr Sargeant was taking anti-depressants .
Days after Mr Sargeant’s death, the First Minister committed to a full inquiry into the way he treated Mr Sargeant .
Mr Jones has been criticised because instead of referring Mr Sargeant for investigation by the Civil Service, he asked a special adviser to carry out a preliminary inquiry and hand the results to the Labour Party.
Mr Sargeant was suspended by the party on the day he was sacked.
The late politician’s family say the Welsh Government fixed the procedure of the inquiry in an operational protocol in conjunction with inquiry chair Paul Bowen QC.
Dame Shan Morgan, the Permanent Secretary, has been representing the Welsh Government in talks with Mr Bowen about the format of the inquiry.
The Sargeant family’s solicitor Neil Hudgell, of Hudgell Solicitors, said: “The operational protocol is deeply unsatisfactory. While the family take at face value Mr Bowen’s assurances that he will carry out a fair and independent investigation, they do not believe the protocol allows for it.
“The family only agreed to the protocol in the interests of getting on with the inquiry, but they remain deeply concerned about the Permanent Secretary’s decision-making in relation to the family’s exclusion.
“The Permanent Secretary, acting on behalf of the First Minister, has refused to allow the family to have their own legal representation at the inquiry, meaning they will be unable to have a barrister cross-examine any of the witnesses.”
Mr Hudgell has also questioned the timing of the hearings, which he believes have been deliberately convened for when the family’s barrister, Leslie Thomas QC, is required to attend the Grenfell Tower Inquiry.
Mr Thomas is a highly regarded campaigning lawyer who is representing families of people who died in the Grenfell Tower fire. He also represented some of the families who lost relatives in the Hillsborough Stadium disaster.
Mr Hudgell said: “I have written to both Paul Bowen and the Permanent Secretary to advise them that we believe the decision-making in relation to the protocol to be unreasonable and we will challenge it by way of a judicial review in the High Court if we have to.”
Mr Hudgell also highlighted a memo from the Permanent Secretary, sent out last Friday, asking all government staff to send any information for the inquiry direct to the government , rather than to Mr Bowen, as a clear sign that the government is not committed to being open and transparent in its dealing with the inquiry.
An amendment was sent out later in the day advising government staff that they could contact the inquiry.
Mr Hudgell added: “The grieving Sargeant family are losing patience and faith in the inquiry and are hurt and upset that everything they have asked for has been ignored. Mr Bowen can only go as far as the Permanent Secretary will allow and we currently have an inquiry process where there will be no effective involvement from the family. How can that be fair?”
At a pre-inquest hearing into Mr Sargeant’s death on Friday, the coroner for north Wales said that the First Minister would be called to the inquest to give evidence.
Mr Hudgell said the First Minister should be questioned by Leslie Thomas QC, but pointed out that the remit of the inquest would be far narrower than the inquiry and so it was essential that the family’s barrister be allowed to carry out rigorous questioning of the First Minister as part of the inquiry as well.
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “The principle that interviews be conducted by the investigation team is a common feature of inquiries and investigations undertaken at the request of Government, and this has been agreed with Mr Bowen throughout the recent discussions leading to the final version of the operational protocol.
“The protocol sets out the basis on which the investigation will be con- ducted and enables the family and any other participant to put forward questions they wish to be asked by the investigator.
“No concerns about timing have been raised previously, indeed earlier representations about timing indicated a wish for the investigation to proceed as quickly as possible, which is now happening. We will consider the detailed legal arguments carefully but consider the proposed proceedings to be misconceived.”
A spokesperson for the independent QC Investigation said: “The independent Investigator notes that the Sargeant family have said they may challenge the Welsh Government over aspects of the terms of the Operational Protocol. Mr Bowen QC confirms that the independent QC Investigation will continue to run under the published Op- erational Protocol while this is resolved.
“Mr Bowen QC is committed to conducting a thorough and independent investigation. The Investigation has issued a call for evidence and encourages any potential witness to contact it before 13 July. All approaches can be kept confidential, if requested. All details of how to do so are on the Investigation’s website at www.iqci.org.uk.”