The Civil Service Commission (CSC) has decided to withhold the salary of former chair, Mohamed Fahmy Hassan, who was dismissed by parliament over allegations that he sexually harassed a female staff member.
The Supreme Court reversed parliament’s decision and Fahmy continued to sign in for work every day.
CSC Media Officer Ali Nizar confirmed to Minivan News that the commission has now suspended Fahmy’s salary and allowances.
“He does not have access to the commission,” Nizar said.
He said that government authorities including President Dr Mohamed Waheed had not responded to the commission when it requested the executive resolve the issue.
According to Nizar, Dr Waheed failed to reply to a letter sent by the commission asking him to resolve Fahmy’s issue.
Auditor General Niyaz Ibrahim told local newspaper Haveeru that his office had given advice on the CSC’s request.
Niyaz told the paper he advised the commission withhold Fahmy’s salary and allowances until the matter was resolved, as it would not be easy to recover once it was paid. He said this was the normal procedure followed in the Maldives.
Minivan News contacted the newly appointed president of the CSC, Ibrahim Latheef, who referred Minivan News to the commission’s secretary general, Mohamed Faizal. Faizal was not responding at time of press.
On August 13, parliament appointed a new member to the CSC to replace Fahmy with 51 out of 54 MPs present voting in favour 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 Fahmy after the Independent Institutions Committee investigated a complaint of sexual harassment against the CSC chief by the employee.
However 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.
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This is a regrettable farce. Fahmy should have quietly resigned or left when he was dismissed.