22.1Interdiction of Public Officers Rs 278 million
In the previous Audit Reports, my Office had repeatedly reported on the time taken to finalise cases of Interdicted Public Officers (IPOs) and the substantial salaries being paid to them by 18 Ministries and Departments during their interdiction.
There were 284 IPOs as per records of the Ministry of Civil Service and Administrative Reforms (MCSAR) as of 31 August 2016. Government has already paid Rs 278.7 million to these IPOs since their date of interdiction as shown in Table 22-1.
Table 22-1 Number of Interdicted Public Officers and Cumulative Salaries as at August 2016
Ministries/Departments / No. of IPOs / Cumulative Salaries(Rs)
Police Department / 191 / 194,618,780
Mauritius Prisons Service / 24 / 18,272,291
Rodrigues Regional Assembly / 16 / 12,406,751
Ministry of Health and Quality of Life / 9 / 3,731,725
Ministry of Social Security / 8 / 12,168,816
Ministry of Public Infrastructure / 8 / 6,981,902
Ministry of Education and Human Resources, Tertiary Education and Scientific Research / 7 / 5,063,604
Other Ministries and Departments / 21 / 25,476,235
Total / 284 / 278,720,104
Source: List submitted by MCSAR
Three Departments, namely the Police Department, the Mauritius Prisons Service and the Rodrigues Regional Assembly registered 231 IPOs that is 82 percent.
Movements in the number of IPOs, between January 2014 and August 2016 are shown in Table 22-2.
Table 22-2 Movements inNumber of IPOs between 1 January 2014 and 31 August 2016
Month/ Year / 2014 / 2015 / Period January 2016to 31 August 2016
1 January / 295 / 314 / 297
Settled cases / 29 / 73 / 27
New cases / 48 / 56 / 14
31 December/31 August / 314 / 297 / 284
Source: List submitted by MCSAR
22.1.1Ageing analysis of IPOs
The ageing analysis in Table 22-3 shows that there were 78 Public Officers interdicted during the years 2006 to 2010 and 14 IPOs between 2002 and 2006. They have already been paid some
Rs 155.4 million since their interdiction. 175 public officers were interdicted between 2010 and 2015 and have been paid salaries of Rs 120.4 million.
Table 22-3 Age analysis of IPOs
Years / Number of years of interdiction / Number of IPOs as at August 2016 / Amount disbursed (Rs m)2015-2016 / ≤ 1 year / 17 / 2.9
2010-2015 / 2 to 5 / 175 / 120.4
2006-2010 / 6 to 10 / 78 / 126.7
2002-2006 / 11 to 14 / 14 / 28.7
Total / 284 / 278.7
Source: List submitted by MCSAR
New Cases
During the period 1 January 2014 to 31 August 2016, there were 118 new cases of IPO’s as shown in Table 22-2 above. Of the 48 and 56 new cases arising in years 2014 and 2015, 24 and 51 cases were still pending as of August 2016 respectively.
Settled Cases
During the period 1 January 2014 to 31 August 2016, 129 cases were settled as shown in Table 22-2 and Table 22-4.
Table 22-4 Courses of Action Taken Regarding the 129 Cases Settled
Action Taken / 2014 / 2015 / 31 August2016 / TotalDismissed / 3 / 5 / 5 / 13
Retired in public interest / 3 / 3 / 0 / 6
Passed away / 2 / 3 / 2 / 7
Retired (age limit) / 2 / 3 / 1 / 6
Reinstated / 16 / 59 / 19 / 94
Departmental action / 3 / 0 / 0 / 3
Total / 29 / 73 / 27 / 129
Source: List submitted by MCSAR
Out of the 129 settled cases, 46 cases were settled between six and 15 years and 68 others, between two and five years after their date of interdiction. 13 cases were settled within one year of interdiction. Regarding the remaining cases, information was not available for length of interdiction. Table 22-5 refers.
Table 22-5 Length of Interdiction
Period of interdiction / Year of settlement / 2014 / 2015 / Jan- Aug2016 / Total
≤ 1 / 3 / 6 / 4 / 13
2 to 5 / 19 / 39 / 10 / 68
6 to 10 / 6 / 22 / 6 / 34
>10 / 1 / 5 / 6 / 12
Unknown / 0 / 1 / 1 / 2
Total / 29 / 73 / 27 / 129
Source: List submitted by MCSAR
Dismissed Cases
Five of 19 Public Officers who were dismissed or who had retired in public interest were interdicted between four to 12 years for offences such as possession of stolen and prohibited articles, bribery, damaging monument.
Reinstated Cases
94 Public Officers were reinstated between January 2014 and August 2016 after several years of interdiction. On a sample of 18 cases of IPOs, it was noted that the offences related to abuse of authority, possession of stolen goods, threatening arson, embezzlement and for bribery cases. These 18 Public Officers were interdicted between three and 12 years.
Further, it was noted that 42 Police Officers were reinstated on ‘conditional reinstatement’ in December 2016. 18 of them were interdicted for long periods ranging from three to seven years.
22.1.2Management of the Control Environment
The Fast Track Mechanism (FTM) at Government Level
Following several adverse comments made in the previous Audit Reports, a Fast Track Mechanism (FTM) was introduced in October 2008 with a view to expediting cases involving IPOs. To that effect, several measures, as mentioned below, were initiated by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to ensure the speedy trials of criminal and disciplinary cases involving IPOs on full pay as follows:
At the level of the DPP’s Office, instructions have been issued for advice in criminal and disciplinary cases involving Public Officers to be tendered within one week of receipt of the request for advice;
The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has issued instructions to all Law Officers for speedy handling of disciplinary cases involving Public Officers;
The Commissioner of Police has been requested to make similar arrangements at the level of the Police Department.
In November 2014, the PMO invited the AGO to request the Judiciary to remind Magistrates of the need to expedite and prioritize the hearing of cases involving IPOs and to issue similar instructions to Law Officers requesting them to deal with such cases expeditiously.
In addition, the MCSAR was required to work out and propose a new mechanism with proper criteria, after consultation with the AGO to guide Supervising Officers in future.
However, the following shortcomings were noted:
The database of IPOs was not complete. A difference of Rs 12.3 million was noted between cumulative salary compiled by my Officers and the cumulative salary recorded in the database for a sample of 13 IPOs. File reference as used at the Police Department, DPP’s Office and the Judiciary for IPOs were not recorded in the database in order to track the status of each case.
The Judiciary has not submitted status of the 140 IPOs to my Office.83 cases had been at the Court for periods ranging from two to eight years.
The Ministry has not yet set up a Central Monitoring Committee.
The Ministry has not prepared the Guidelines on the FTM which would be of use to the Supervising Officers and other Stakeholders.
Recommendations
In view of the fact that a significant number of IPOs have been reinstated after several years, management can set up an independent committee of professionals with mixed abilities, to examine judiciously any new cases.
The severity of conditions leading to interdictions should be revisited.
Relevant stakeholders should provide updated information to the Central Monitoring Committee for monitoring of progress made and costs implications.
Ministry’s Reply
This Ministry is reactivating the Fast Track Mechanism to make it more effective and deliver according to expectations. An appropriate Protocol will be established as regards action to be taken by relevant institutions, namely the Police Department, the Attorney General’s Office, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Judiciary.
A Central Monitoring Committee will be set up in this Ministry, which will coordinate with all Ministries/Departments concerned so as to ensure that action is taken within the agreed timeframe.
A common template will be drawn to elicit information for the putting in place of a comprehensive database of IPOs.
For future cases of interdiction, guidelines will be issued to Responsible Officers as to the circumstances in which a public officer may be interdicted. It is believed that these guidelines will act as a deterrent to prevent Responsible Officers from interdicting Public Officers on relatively weak grounds.This would help to reduce costs incurred by Government on interdicted officers.
It is further proposed to submit the above strategies to the High Level Ministerial Committee for its endorsement.
1
Ministry of Civil Service and Administrative Reforms