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A committee examining a 2006 report by Fiji’s Auditor-General says certain government departments and ministries were “simply satisfied with transferring offending officers away” instead of taking a tangible form of discipline.
The committee expressed concern at the “inappropriateness” of some of the action taken in disciplining officers employed in ministries and departments under the country’s infrastructure services sector.
The concern relates to Volume 5 of the report on the infrastructure services sector 2006.
The report covers 10 ministries and departments including the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation, Meteorological Services, the Department of Mechanical, Works and Electrical, the departments of Energy, National Roads and Water and Sewerage, Fiji islands Maritime Safety Administration, Government Shipping Services, Fiji Roads Upgrading Project Stage III and the Suva/Nausori Regional Water Supply and Sewerage ADB Project.
The Public Accounts Committee said it appeared that the ministries and departments were “simply satisfied with transferring the offending officer away as a form of disciplinary action rather than imposing a surcharge or some other tangible forms of discipline”.
“For instance, disciplinary action taken on misappropriation of funds often resulted only in the officer being dismissed from the service without the case being referred to the courts for the recovery of lost revenue,” the committee noted.
