Need to investigate case of immigration employees: Spokesperson

Government spokesperson Abbas Adil Riza has said that the Civil Service Commission (CSC) needs to investigate the case of immigration employees who obstructed the work of Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) officials while investigating the case of the laptops given by the Malaysian Nexbiz company. In an interview with Haveeru, Abbas said that civil servants must not partake in any illegitimate activity even if they are encouraged by politicians. He said that the CSC must investigate the case of obstruction of the ACC officials work by civil servants at the immigration department even if there are no complaints filed.

“Civil service Act does not limit their investigations to only complaints filed. The government believes that the commission also has an obligation to launch investigations into cases which draws attention,” Spokesperson said.

ACC stated that some immigration employees had stymied their work and threatened them in different ways. ACC had decided to file a complaint at the police as some of the ACC officials had been locked up in the immigration with the fans and air conditioning turned off.

Government spokesperson said that civil servants must possess acceptable behavioral standards and that the CSC needs to ensure that the civil servants follow a code of conduct.

“The government does not want to leave this unattended as it will pave way to recurrence. Today it happened to the ACC, tomorrow it might happen to the Auditor General Office (AGO) or it could happen to the tax office the next day, it would be a serious issue. Hence we need to find a way to stop the repetition of such acts by civil servants,” Abbas said.

He said that the government has given special precedence against the intervention in the mandate of independent institutions and that a way for investigations in to allegations must always be paved. Hence he added that the government will not tolerate obstructions to such institutions.

“Independent institutions are what we call as parties which act as governance watchdogs, within the governing system. Obstructions to this system will destroy this system. Hence, the government condemns the acts against the ACC officials,” Spokesperson said.

Regarding the obstruction of the ACC officials work by civil servant at the immigration department, CSC President Mohamed Fahmy Hassan yesterday said that no complaints about such a case had been received.

He said that according to the hierarchy, civil servants must act upon orders by their permanent secretary or the responsible head of the office. He added that according to the constitution of Maldives, civil servants must not obey illegal orders issued on them.
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