Thursday
9th May 2024
Dhivehi Edition
Speaker of the parliament with staffs of the parliament. Photo: People’s Majilis
An Addu woman employed at the secretariat of the People's Majlis has been suspended from her job after it came to light that she had submitted a forged document indicating that she had come into direct contact with a person who had tested positive for COVID-19.
According to sources, she had amended a quarantine order that had been issued by the Health Protection Agency to a household in Male. After submitting the forged document to the Human Resources department at the Majlis, she had taken leave from work and had then returned to Addu.
It came to light that she had forged the document only after she had returned to work in Male.
The employee had been suspended for 10 work-days beginning on on January 26, as confirmed by the Media Official for the Majlis.
Although forging a government-issued document is a major criminal offense, the case has neither been reported to the Maldives Police Service nor have any further punitive measures been taken against the employee.
"That an employee who committed such fraud by forging the signature of a high-ranking government official isn't dismissed from their job raises a lot of questions", a Majlis employee told The Maldives Journal on the condition of anonymity.
Employees who are unable to attend work on account of being tested for COVID-19 do not have their salaries or their remaining number of leaves deducted, as per guidelines. According to sources, the suspended employee had also not incurred any reduction of either her salary or her remaining number of leaves.