No one in the government has said Reshmi Ramnarine was fired. She was relieved of her duties.

This was stated yesterday by National Security Minister John Sandy in response to a question from Opposition Senator Fitzgerald Hinds in the Senate.

According to Sandy, Ramnarine is no longer employed at the Strategic Services Agency (SSA), either as head of the spy agency or in her previous position as a junior officer.

Ramnarine was "relieved of her duties" as a junior officer of the SSA before she was appointed as the spy agency's director, he added.

Following her resignation from the post of SSA director on January 22, Ramnarine is no longer employed with the government, Sandy said.

Sandy made the statements in the Upper House yesterday in response to a question filed on the Order Paper by Hinds.

One of the questions Hinds asked was, "Whether Ramnarine is still employed with the SIA (Security Intelligence Agency) and if so in what capacity?"

"No, the individual is no longer employed with the SSA," Sandy said.

Sandy said a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer certificate was the "highest level of academic qualification Ramnarine" possessed at the time of her appointment to SSA head.

"I went to the other place and I apologised to the House and the national community for having misled them on information I had at the time which led me to believe that the candidate was a university candidate," Sandy said.

Hinds then asked: "Having apologised for that, have you as the Minister of National Security in this country taken any action to find out who provided the misleading information and if so what action is being taken against them that caused you to be misled, in the context?"

"Yes, we did and this is why the candidate in question is no longer in the government's employ," Sandy said.

Hinds asked: "Since you did and the candidate is no longer employed with the agency and we heard last week that she was fired, again I ask what action has been taken against the person who made the recommendation that provided you with the misleading information."

Sandy responded: "No one on this side said the candidate was fired, he said it (pointing to Hinds) the Hansard will tell you what the Honourabe Senator (Subhas Panday) said is she was relieved of her duties."

He added, "When the candidate was to be appointed to the directorship she must have been relieved of her duties at the lower level to be appointed. It happened to me. I was a sergeant, I was relieved of my duties as a sergeant and appointed as a lieutenant in Trinidad and Tobago.

"Similarly, she must have been relieved of her duty then to be appointed. Having been appointed on the 22nd of January she submitted her resignation from that position."

Panday, the Minister in the Ministry of National Security, in last week's sitting of the Senate said Ramnarine was "relieved of her duties".

Ramnarine was appointed head of the national spy agency earlier this year but tendered her resignation to Sandy on January 22.

On January 14, Ramnarine, 31, was handed an instrument of appointment to head the SSA by then acting President Timothy Hamel-Smith on a recommendation from Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.

One week after the appointment, and after several Express stories showed she was unqualified and inexperienced for the job, Ramnarine resigned, saying her cover had been exposed.