Dismissed academics raise questions over investigation
TWO academics dismissed from their posts at Swansea University have taken their case to an employment tribunal – and asked questions about the investigation into their alleged gross misconduct.
Professor Marc Clement – previously dean of the School of Management and executive chair of the Institute of Life Sciences – and Steven Poole were both sacked from their roles at the Welsh university in 2019 after an internal investigation.
Prof Clement was initially suspended, along with vice-chancellor Richard B Davies, in November 2018 – and both were dismissed following an eight-month disciplinary process.
Mr Poole, who worked under Prof Clement at the School of Management, was also dismissed in 2019.
The allegations were made in relation to a £200m wellness village that was planned in Llanelli.
A further part of the investigation that led to their suspensions and subsequent dismissals was into a proposed £600m joint venture for a new university and private hospital in Kuwait, involving Swansea University.
Prof Clement had been accused of “hiding” his shares in a company set to benefit from the regeneration project – claims he had strongly denied.
The matter was later investigated by the police. But the CPS decided not to pursue the case, saying it was “not in the public interest”.
The university had previously alleged that some employees stood to make financial gains in a personal capacity from projects in which they were involved as university employees.
However, Prof Clement and Mr Poole have taken their cases to an employment tribunal for unfair dismissal in relation to their conduct (the reason given for their dismissal). The tribunal is being heard in Cardiff.
Prof Clement and Mr Poole are representing themselves at the hearing and the case opened with them posing questions to Diya Sen Gupta QC, who conducted the independent investigation.
Prof Clement read out a number of documents to Ms Sen Gupta as part of his questioning – including ones from the university’s conflict of interest policy, emails and protocol relating to the health and wellness village.
Prof Clement asked Ms Sen Gupta whether documents that he read out had been included in her original “bundle” of documents for the investigation, passed on to her by law firm Allen & Overy at the beginning of the investigation.
Prof Clement also told the tribunal he had tried to declare his interest in the scheme months before an investigation began – but there were problems uploading the form on the university intranet.
He read an email sent to a director and lawyer at the university ahead of the probe, saying: “I’m formally asking you to place my declaration of interest on file.”
He continued the email saying the problems with the intranet system “could place the university at risk”.
Prof Clement said: “I was accused of not declaring an interest.
“My position is that I made a declaration in good faith and I made other declarations in good faith.
“I reported these to the vicechancellor, to the registrar, to the chair of the council, to the board at the university.
“I’m at a loss to know what more I could have done.”
Mr Poole also posed questions to Ms Sen Gupta at the tribunal in relation to governance, reading aloud from a number of documents and posing questions about whether they showed that due diligence processes for the Kuwait and Delta Lakes projects had commenced.
Mr Poole claimed that he and Prof Clement had “in excess of 42 documents” with “numerous due diligence emails, none of which included Prof Clement or [himself]”, but Mr Poole claimed that these documents showed that internal due diligence was under way for the projects in Llanelli and Kuwait.
The tribunal, which is expected to last two weeks, continues.