Corruption is a poison that infects the development of nations. The World Bank (1997) defined corruption as the “use of public office for private gain” (Anwar Shah, 2000), while the Member States of the United Nations finalised the United Nations Convention against Corruption in 2003 (UNODC, 2003). From article 6 of the convention, it is clear that “corruption can be prosecuted after the fact, but first and foremost it requires prevention” (UN, 2004). The chapter dedicated to the prevention and maintaining the integrity of the public staff states that “once recruited, public servants should be subject to codes of conduct, requirements for financial and other disclosures, and appropriate disciplinary measures (UNODC, 2003).

Corruption in the public sector has been increasing, and the public trust in public servants has declined with the speedy economic development activities of the Maldives. It appears that the Constitution, law and regulations have sufficient administrative procedures and prevention measures to align with the above mentioned UN convention. The Maldives have an anti-corruption commission with the independence, responsibility, and power described in the Constitution and law. Article 199 (a) of the Constitution states that “there shall be an Anti-Corruption Commission of the Maldives”, and (b) of the article states that “The Anti-Corruption Commission is an independent and impartial institution. It shall perform its duties and responsibilities under the Constitution and any laws enacted by the People’s Majlis. The Anti-Corruption Commission shall work to prevent and combat corruption within all activities of the State without fear” (Constitution, 2008). Therefore, the anti-corruption commission has sufficient power with the members appointed by the parliament to gain public trust. As it is clear from the UN convention, maintaining the integrity of the public staff is an important measure to prevent corruption, where related regulatory procedures follow the employment process of the public service staff. While the public service staff are working within the legal boundaries defined for the respective organizations, the code of conduct, recruiting, promotions and terminations etc., are in accord with the labor act (2/2008). Most of the disciplinary measures for public employees are regulated by considering the standards defined for the anti-corruption commission from the Constitution. As the civil servants are the administrative staffs allocated for the government offices and local council secretariats, the civil service regulation (2014) article 271 (c ) number 18 states that “if an investigation from a legally defined state agency found that an employee is responsible for illegal conduct”, it is a level 3 offence to terminate the responsible employee. As the Anti-Corruption Commission is an agency defined in the Constitution of the Maldives and the responsibilities and conducts specified in the law, the civil service commission has been terminating or penalizing with other disciplinary action for the responsible staff pronounced the past anti-corruption reports. Disciplinary action for the employees reported from anti-corruption investigators is vital because if any such official remains in the service after the reports of corruption, they have a chance to destroy the evidence or repeat the corrupted action.   

While the disciplinary measures are defined to expel the corrupt civil servants from the public assignments, the recent decision to keep the political appointees in the office (until a court verdict) for the same type of reported corruption is considered double-standard. It is in fear that the existing controlling measures of preventing crime by expelling the public servants from the public positions could be stopped for all suspects in future while keeping the corrupt suspects in the public service and allowing them to use state resources may be a factor for the general public to lose trust on the government for their anti-corruption measures. Even though the recent change of treating the political appointees appointed under constitution article 115 (f) and the ministers defined in article 132 as employees who have legally designated employment rights, the employment procedures for the political appointees are not defined in the labor act.

Researchers Edgardo Buscaglia and Jan Van Dijk have stated in the OECD based journal “Forum on Crime and Society” that; “Organized crime and corruption are shaped by the lack of strength of the control mechanism of the State and civil society” (E. Bascaglia, 2003).

References

Anwar Shah, J. H., 2000. Anti-Corruption Policies and Programs : A Framework for Evaluation. [Online]
Available at: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/19753
[Accessed 13 10 2021].

Constitution, 2008. https://mvlaw.gov.mv/. [Online]
Available at: https://mvlaw.gov.mv/pdf/ganoon/QaanoonAsaasee/English-constitution.pdf
[Accessed 16 10 2021].

E. Bascaglia, a. J. V. D., 2003. Controlling Organized Crime and Corruption in the Public Sector. Forum on Crime and Society, 3(1), pp. 1-32.

UN, 2004. https://www.unodc.org/. [Online]
Available at: https://www.unodc.org/documents/brussels/UN_Convention_Against_Corruption.pdf
[Accessed 14 10 2021].

UNODC, 2003. United Nations Guide on Anti-Corruption Policies. s.l., http://www.unodc.org/corruption.html.