For the sixth time, a disciplinary hearing for former Osoyoos RCMP Constable Amit Goyal has been postponed at the last minute. Goyal was suspended in June 2013 and is still being paid. His new date is in December. (File photo)
For the sixth time, a scheduled disciplinary hearing for former Osoyoos RCMP Constable Amit Goyal was adjourned just days before it was to take place.
Goyal was suspended with pay in June 2013.
Goyal’s hearing on five charges under the 1988 RCMP regulations was to have taken place in Vancouver on Monday, Nov. 14. Now the hearing has been rescheduled to Dec. 20 by videoconference.
Goyal faces three charges of disgraceful or disorderly conduct and two of making false statements to a superior officer pertaining to an investigation.
Five previous hearing dates since July 28, 2015 were also adjourned without explanation just days before they were to take place.
At a Sept. 13 hearing, Goyal’s lawyer said proceeding with the matter could prove to be “an embarrassment for the RCMP.”
He also claimed to have new “incontrovertible evidence of (Goyal’s) innocence.”
The misconduct allegations stem from two incidents in the fall of 2012 when vehicles parked at Goyal’s Cottonwood Drive residence were reported stolen a week apart and were later found burned on Anarchist Mountain.
A local man with a criminal record was fingered as a suspect, but later was cleared by a lie detector test.
The incidents were investigated by Trail RCMP, who recommended criminal charges, but the Crown prosecutor declined to lay any charges.
Goyal has not been convicted of any wrongdoing and none of the allegations against him have been proven in court or at a disciplinary hearing.
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