Academics sacked for gross misconduct by Swansea University for seeking to gain personally with equity stakes in the £200m Life Sciences and Wellness Village project said a new model “eliminating” any interest was known to the university before their dismissals, an employment tribunal has heard.
Former dean of university’s school of management, Prof Clement and colleague Steven Poole were dismissed in 2019 for gross misconduct following a lengthy internal disciplinary process. They both subsequently lost their appeals. While not connected to the wellness village project ownership structure, former vice-chancellor of the university Prof Richard Davies, was also sacked for gross misconduct. He is not involved in the case for unfair dismissal brought by Prof Clement and Mr Poole, in which they are representing themselves.
The proposed wellness village project at Delta Lakes in Llanelli followed the signing of a collaboration agreement between the university, Carmarthenshire County Council and private healthcare firm Sterling Health - which was planning to be the project’s private sector development partner. The abandoned project, which has been succeeded with a new and completely separate wellness project - Pentre Awel - was seeking £40m in funding from the City Deal for the Swansea Bay City Region.
