审计揭露总检察长办公室的招聘骗局

The Office of the Attorney-General has been accused of presiding over a recruitment scam that saw candidates who never applied for jobs hired alongside those lacking the required academic qualifications, in a damning verdict that exposes deep-rooted irregularities in public sector hiring.

An independent audit by the Public Service Commission (PSC) found that the State Law Office—mandated to advise the government on legal matters and uphold the rule of law—breached multiple constitutional, statutory and regulatory requirements governing public sector recruitment.

The audit followed an order issued by the Employment and Labour Relations Court on May 29, 2025, directing the PSC to investigate, monitor and evaluate the organisation, administration and personnel practices in the Office of the Attorney-General.

The court ordered the commission to file its report by December 31, 2025.

The audit paints the picture of a State institution where recruitment procedures were routinely disregarded, with the PSC concluding that appointments were made outside the constitutional and statutory framework governing public service recruitment.

Among the gravest findings was that some successful candidates were appointed despite not appearing in the original long list of applicants, which means they never applied for the advertised positions.

Others were shortlisted and eventually hired despite lacking the mandatory academic and professional qualifications required in the job advertisements.

"There were candidates who were shortlisted, yet they did not meet the shortlisting criteria as per the advertisements and others were shortlisted yet they had not applied for the jobs as they were not in the long list," said PSC chairperson Francis Meja in a report dated June 30, 2026, and seen by the Business Daily.

The PSC found that at least 18 shortlisted Legal Clerk Assistant IV candidates and 27 shortlisted State Counsel II candidates did not meet the advertised qualification threshold.