I'm inclined to agree with you, but, to play the devil's advocate, "we're temporarily suspending you...oops, no, it's permanent after all" is not a position they want to find themselves in.
The usual phrase would be along the lines of "pending a full investigation", which is what they should have said, but people often fail to. PR is hard enough when you're calm and collected, in the middle of a shitstorm it's a miracle if you can fully articulate what is and will be happening.