Dr Mohamed Latheef appointed CSC Chair

Parliament has appointed Civil Service Commission (CSC) member and former chair Dr Mohamed Latheef as the new chair of the commission.

According to media reports, of the 75 MPs present, 60 voted in favour of appointing Latheef as chair of the commission. The remaining 15 MPs abstained from voting.

The parliament this morning discussed the two names proposed to the parliament by the majority and minority parties for the position of CSC Chair.

According to local newspapers, majority party, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) proposed current member of the CSC Dr Mohamed Latheef –  the former chair of the commission – and the minority Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) proposed Ahmed Hassan Didi to be appointed as chair.

Today’s parliament session was chaired by Speaker of the Majlis Abdulla Shahid.

On August 13, the parliament appointed a new member to the Civil Service Commission to replace Mohamed Fahmy Hassan, who was dismissed in November 2012 over allegations that he sexually harassed a female member of staff.

51 out of 54 MPs present in the parliament voted in favor of appointing Fathimath Reenee Abdulsathar as Fahmy’s replacement, while the remaining three MPs abstained.

In November last year parliament voted 38 – 32 in favour of removing the CSC chair after the Independent Institutions Committee investigated the complaint of sexual harassment lodged by a female CSC employee.

On 14 March 2013 the Supreme Court ruled that parliament’s decision to remove Fahmy from his position was not based on reasonable grounds and invalidated the decision.

On August 15, the Supreme Court issued an injunction to halt parliament’s appointment just as the President’s Office prepared to give credentials to Reenee.

However, the following day Chief Justice Ahmed Faiz Hussain accused his own court of issuing the injunction without his knowledge. Former Judicial Services Commission (JSC) member Aishath Velazinee has argued that the Majlis was given authority over CSC appointments in 2010, describing the Supreme Court’s move as a “mutiny”.

The President of Anti-Corruption Commssion (ACC) Hassan Luthfy yesterday (19 August) told local media that the case had now been filed at the commission as its members found that it could be a case of Supreme Court Justices working for the benefit of an individual.

Hassan Luthfy noted that Supreme Court Justice Ali Hameed was on the bench that issued the injunction, and that Hameed had an ongoing case – regarding a leaked sex tape – in the JSC, of which the dismissed chair of CSC Fahmy is a member.

Correction: An earlier version of this article named Dr Ibrahim Luthfy as the new CSC chair. This had been corrected to Dr Mohamed Latheef.

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