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Yameen concerned about how deducted salaries are reimbursed

Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) Parliamentary Group Leader Abdullah Yameen has expressed concern about how deducted salaries of civil service employees are being reimbursed.

Speaking at the Parliament Committee on Finance, Yameen said that the Finance Ministry had advised two ways in which government institutions can reimburse civil servants.

One was by using the budget assigned for salaries, and if this was not possible, the budges assigned for other areas are to be used to reimburse employees for deducted salaries.

Yameen said that this was an irresponsible notification by Finance Ministry.

He stressed that budget assigned for other sections should not be used to reimburse the deducted salaries, as doing so might mean that an institution’s productivity is compromised.

“For example, the money to be used to buy a new computer might be used to reimburse salaries. The productivity and development of the office would go down. This should not be allowed to happen,” he said.

Yameen noted that salaries of civil servants are low, and stressed that the deducted salaries must be reimbursed. He however did not agree with Finance Ministry’s current suggested method.

Members of the Finance Committee said that civil servants have already been reimbursed for MVR220 million out of the MVR442 of deducted salaries.

This year’s budget, when it was passed by the parliament, included reimbursement of deducted salaries of civil servants as part of the contingency budget.

The budget indicated that the amount would be included in the contingency budget if the Supreme Court rules that civil servants’ deducted salaries should be reimbursed.

However the government decided to follow the High Court ruling to reimburse civil servants, before the case reached the Supreme Court.

Members at today’s Finance Committee made the decision to send a letter to the Finance Ministry requesting for details on how salaries are being reimbursed.

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