Customs organizational structure changed to combat corruption: Shareef

Commissioner General of Customs, Abdulla Shareef says that they have brought changes to the organizational structure of the Maldives Customs Service, to discourage acts of corruption among Customs officers.

Shareef made these remarks while speaking on RaajjeTV's "Fala Surukhee" programme on Wednesday night, noting that changes had been brought to the organizational structure in a bid to discourage corruption and support this administration's policy of "zero-tolerance" for acts of corruption.

He further detailed that an Integrity and Professional Standard Section had been established within Customs, and that it was responsible for overseeing issues related to the integrity of Customs officers.

Shareef explained that the section had been created based on discussions involving international integrity guidelines, National Integrity Commission and the Anti-Corruption Commission, and that he believed it would be a driver for employees to maintain standards of ethical integrity at work.

Shareef said he believed that with the establishment of the Integrity and Professional Standard Section, Customs would be an institute with no reports of corruption in the following year.