I don't really believe you, but in any event, it sure looks that way.
Can you provide some other explanation as to why immediately after they came to this committee they said they were threatened by other public servants and that nothing was done on that? They said that you and others had lied to this committee, and then you're the one who gets to decide whether or not the department covers their legal fees, and you, perhaps unsurprisingly, make the decision to pull their legal fees.
Doesn't that look like you made a decision to punish people who criticized you at a parliamentary committee?