The Public Services Commission has decided to appoint a new director and deputy director of the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Ministry of Finance. The move comes almost two months after Cabinet appointed Registrar General Susan Francois acting director of the FIU. Her appointment was deemed improper because it was done by the Cabinet and not the PSC as required by law. Last week Friday, the PSC wrote to Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley stating that it was the competent authority to make such appointments, not the Cabinet.
Rowley had earlier written to the PSC expressing concern that laws governing the appointment of a FIU director had been breached by the Cabinet. Based on the legal advice it obtained on the matter, the PSC published a notice in the T&T Guardian yesterday, indicating that it decided at a meeting on Tuesday "to proceed to fill the above offices in accordance with its Regulations, but was unable to do so because there are no terms and conditions of service attached to these offices."
The PSC notice added: "Such terms and conditions are yet to be determined by the Salaries Review Commission. The commission has so advised the Government. "As soon as the relevant terms and condition are approved by the Salaries Review Commission, the commission will take the appropriate action," the notice said.