Really makes me wonder about that period now. I was at a different SOE and we had a colleague suspended for a full year "under investigation". Nothing was found, and as he stuck it out, he was in fact re-instated (in other words nothing found). He used to be involved in various tenders, and we always wondered if he was put on suspension for refusing to go along with an award for an irregular tender.... The best tactic was, suspend and then replace with someone else on a tender evaluation, who will sign off. My own laptop was seized a while after that for forensic search. Nothing was found (as I was not involved in anything) and I was never even told what the investigation was about, nor what reason was given by whom to why there was any suspicion warranting such a search. Although I worked a few more years to take early retirement, it had also soured my experience at a SOE. I did not have to take early retirement, but my skills were lost early due to some toxic approaches like these.