Breaking his silence after the United Kingdom recently terminated his contract, former Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) adviser Dr. Sam Sittlington yesterday said that the disclosure that he registered a private business here was perfectly timed to divert attention away from the controversy surrounding former forensic analyst Sheronie James and the problems at the unit.
“The very fact that an article appeared about me on the same day as Miss James’ article and resignation was to deflect the media away from her towards me and that worked because the public don’t know the bigger story around her qualification and the false CV… but they see me as an adviser and that’s a more prominent story,” Sittlington told Stabroek News, while insisting that he never imagined that setting up a branch of his company here would be so problematic.
He was adamant that there was no conflict of interest on his part and said that he plans to take legal action against the UK government with regards to the abrupt termination of his contract.
