THE FINANCE Ministry will be launching an investigation into the shortcomings in state diplomacy and security measures, following the embarrassing disappearance of 50 blank passports off the back of a transport truck last Thursday.
The package containing the passports was found by a taxi driver, who then handed it in to daily newspaper Politis. The paper immediately notified the police.
Permanent Secretary of the Interior Ministry Lazaros Savvides said yesterday that the matter was now in the hands of the Finance Ministry, which will soon be launching an investigation.
“Because the three operators were alternate staff, which means they can change post from department to department and ministry to ministry, the matter has been handed over to the Minister of Finance [Michalis Sarris] who is the responsible minister for alternate staff,” explained Savvides. He added that Sarris had been requested to move forward and initiate an investigation.
“It has not yet been decided if the three operators will be suspended until the end of the investigation or not. The Finance Minister will inform me on his decision tomorrow [today].”
The Ministry official could not comment on how the passports had disappeared off the truck, but said the matter would be examined by the investigative team.
Referring to the incident last Saturday, Savvides had said “three operators of the Immigration Department, authorised for this reason, visited the areas where the passports are kept and picked up a number of boxes containing passports and with their vehicle they headed off to bring them to the Department”.
“The conditions under which the package was found outside the vehicle and the fact that this wasn’t noticed during transportation, are being examined both by the Immigration Department and the police.”
It was only discovered that the package was missing after the three operators arrived at the Department and the boxes were counted, said Savvides.
Straight after, proceedings began to determine if the package was indeed missing or if there was a mistake while picking the boxes up.
Head of the Immigration Department Anni Shakalli was immediately notified and she began proceedings with the police.
But as it was reported by Politis last Friday, the passports had been found by a taxi driver, who proceeded to hand them in to the newspaper. The paper then notified the police who came and picked the parcel up.
Last weekend, the Interior Ministry’s Permanent Secretary had admitted that the incident was very serious and said he had notified House President Demetris Christofias as well as Defence Minister Phivos Klokkaris.
