Assistant Commissioner of Police Irwin Hackshaw is suspended with immediate effect after Police Complaints Authority made recommendations to the Commissioner and handed over findings in their investigation to the Director of Public Prosecutions on Tuesday.
In a release this morning, the PCA confirmed that it had completed its preliminary investigation into the unusual financial transactions conducted by ACP Hackshaw on September 11.
The release then confirmed that it met with Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith yesterday concerning the findings of the investigation and had forwarded those findings to the Office of the DPP.
The Commissioner of Police confirmed the meeting in a release of his own, a few hours after the PCA's statement.
He confirmed that he ordered that Hackshaw, be suspended with immediate effect, following a meeting with the Director of the PCA, David West, yesterday.
Griffith also confirmed the TTPS is consulting with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on the matter and is awaiting further advice. He said an investigator will be appointed.
The events come mere weeks after the Commissioner and the PCA had a public spat over the case after the PCA made public its recommendations concerning the matter based on the civil probe into the situation.
Griffith contended that the PCA had acted outside of its remit by doing so and stressed that he would not "bow to internal and external pressure, based on newspaper articles, to take action on ACP Hackshaw as the investigations were incomplete. "
In the release this morning, Griffith returned to that point staring that prior to this, "there were no recommendations made by either the PCA or the TTPS with regard to any criminal offence." But instead "a recommendation for disciplinary action based on an initial report."
He said, "Now that a recommendation that a criminal offence may have been committed based on an investigation, the CoP said he was now in a position to suspend ACP Hackshaw."
In January the allegations surfaced that Hackshaw had acquired over $2 million through a series of suspicious transactions over two years.
He was cleared of wrongdoing following an investigation by the TTPS in May. However, despite the TTPS' stance, the PCA probe continued.