Former FIAU manager Jonathan Ferris is seeking damages after alleging discriminatory treatment by police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar.

In a case filed before the Constitutional court on Friday, Mr Ferris claimed the commissioner’s failure to reinstate him to the police force after he was sacked from the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) violated his human rights.

Mr Ferris had taken separate legal action against the FIAU over what he termed as an unfair dismissal during his probation period.

According to Friday’s application, Mr Ferris sent out feelers about returning to the police one month before he was dumped by the FIAU in June 2017.

Verbal assurance

During a meeting with the police commissioner, Mr Ferris was verbally assured that his reinstatement would not be a problem given his past record.

He put in a formal request for reinstatement to the police force in July 2017, but to date the request has not been answered, the court application says.

Mr Ferris says he was 'verbally assured' about his reinstatement by police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar

Apart from the “discriminatory” decision not to reinstate him, Mr Ferris is claiming the original decision not to second him from the police to the FIAU also breached his rights.

He says in the application that 26 police officers had been seconded to other government entities and even the private sector since 2013.

The fact that he was not seconded meant he had to quit the police force when he joined the FIAU in November 2016.

Various meetings about the secondment were held prior to this, yet Mr Ferris was never told why his request was being refused, the application says.

Mr Ferris said he felt there were certain “shortcomings” in the police force, so he liked the idea of going to work for the FIAU until matters improved.

Similarly, he said in the application that the decision to seek reinstatement to the police in May 2017 came about after noticing shortcomings and abnormalities at the FIAU.

Mr Ferris is claiming before the Constitutional court that the discrimination he faced meant he lost the right to a service pension.

He asked the court to order the police commissioner to compensate him.

The application was signed by lawyers Andrew Borg Cardona, Therese Comodini Cachia, Jason Azzopardi and Evelyn Borg Costanzi.