Sep 22 - Government: Montiel And Feetham “Were Wrong And Should Accept It”
The Government has said that Mr Montiel “appears not to have understood” why the Court has dismissed what it describes as his “spurious claim” that he was entitled to be employed as a Civil Servant once he ceased to be a minister.
In a recent letter to the media, Mr Montiel claims that the GSD government had agreed to transfer all GDC employees to the Civil Service. This, says the Government, is “completely untrue.” Nor is it true, it says, that the GSD Government offered him a post-election job in the Civil Service - it couldn't secure for him, a Minister at the time, a Civil Service position after the 2011 election, says a statement from Number Six.
Another inaccuracy in his letter, according to the Government, is his claim that the Public Services Commission advised the Governor to make him an offer of Civil Service employment.
“That did NOT happen. The evidence on this was clear, but not apparently clear enough for Mr Montiel,” reads a statement.
Mr Montiel also claims to have written many letters seeking a GDC post. In fact, says the Government, he has been treated “just like any other GDC employee: he has been invited to meet with the Ministry to discuss a suitable job but has repeatedly failed to take up these invitations.”
Finally, in his letter Mr Montiel says that his court case was decided merely on a technicality. The Government says that this is not the case adding that the case was decided on the substance of the matter.
The Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, said: "Luis Montiel needs to stop misleading people about his very abusive attempt to profit from his position as a Minister. He had been employed by the GDC before he became a minister for only 7 months, although people will recall that he left Unite (then the TGWU) on medical grounds. As Minister for Employment he presided over a meteoric rise in unemployment which peaked at almost 1,200. Despite that torrid record, he was offered a return to his grade in the GDC when he stopped being a minister. The only thing that we have stopped was his abusive attempt to become a civil servant. Mr Montiel in effect thought he could abuse his position as a Minister to procure for himself an offer of a civil service post and take it up the day after the election. That is what was and remains unacceptable to us. That is what the Court has ruled Mr Montiel could not force upon this community. Even Mr Montiel now seems embarrassed to reflect the reality of what his lawyer, Mr Feetham, wrongly sought in court and rightly lost."
