Suspended government employees gobble up Rs250 million annually

A ministerial committee has reportedly been set up to look into the cases of civil servants who have been suspended for several years. 

According to Defi Media, hundreds of millions of rupees of public funds are gobbled up annually by officials suspended for gross misconduct, but still being almost full salary…for several years.

Many of them take up a second job or set up a small business – so, they end up with two revenue streams, the newspaper reported.

It cited Sateeaved Seebaluck, former head of the Civil Service, as taking the example of a police officer who was suspended two years after his appointment. The police officer, he claimed, has been suspended for 24 years and still getting paid.

To date, 195 civil servants are reportedly suspended, 175 of whom are entitled to “full pay”.

The majority of suspended government employees are police officers (117), followed by employees of various ministries and State-owned companies (45) and prison services (13).

Defi Media also cited the case of a police officer published in the 2020/2021 Audit Report.

According to the report, the officer, who also worked as a Revenue Clerk at the Northern District Headquarters, has been suspended since April 2015.

Five years later, the Audit Office reported that the policeman had not yet explained how Rs 31.8 million went missing.

Coincidentally, police investigation into the matter had been unsuccessful.

In the meantime, the policeman received Rs 1.7 million in wages and allowances, for the duration of his suspension.

Approximately Rs250million are spent every year to pay suspended government employees.

The ministerial committee, according to Defi Media, is reportedly looking into several options. One of them is to ‘recall’ those who have been suspended for ‘minor reasons’.

So far, it said 71 ‘interdicted officers’ have been ‘recalled’. 59 are police officers, eight work for Mauritius Prisons and four work in ministries and other parastatal entities.