As a result of separate disciplinary inquiries conducted by the police and the Internal Security Department (ISD), disciplinary actions — ranging from warning letters to dismissals from service — were meted out against eight officers, with the axe also falling on the Superintendent of the Whitley Road Detention Centre (WRDC), Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng told Parliament.

But it was the sanction against the ninth, an ISD Command Director — based on “institutional responsibility” instead of culpability — that raised eyebrows, with Tampines GRC Member of Parliament Irene Ng asking if the move was a “political exercise”.

Despite the finding by the Committee of Inquiry (COI) that the Command Director, who oversees the running of several divisional units under the ISD, had “properly discharged his duties and was not at fault”, Mr Wong decided to relieve him of hisduties as Officer-in-Charge of the Whitley Road Detention Centre.

In fact, according to Mr Wong, the COI report noted that the ISD Command Director had “instituted proper systems and procedures” and recruited a full-timeSuperintendent to take charge of the administration of the WRDC.

The COI, whose findings were announced in Parliament last month, had been set up to look into the circumstances surrounding the Feb 27 escape of Mas Selamat, the former leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah network here, via a toilet ventilation window at the detention centre.

While the Command Director, who holds a rank equivalent to a Brigadier-General in the armed forces, retains his other responsibilities, Mr Wong made it clear that both the sanction and Mas Selamat’s escape “will have a bearing” on his performance appraisal.

And Ms Ng questioned the rationale of doing so, adding: “If it’s a political exercise, sometimes the danger is that some heads are rolling for the wrong reason.”

In response, Mr Wong, who is also the Home Affairs Minister, said that the ISD Command Director had a “statutory function to ensure the smooth functioning of the WRDC”.

“So in terms of institutional responsibility ... I’ve decided that I should find another person to do the job,” he added.

The other high profile casualty of the aftermath was less of a surprise, with the Superintendent of the WRDC singled out in the COI report as the highest-ranking officer to be deemed culpable.

Yesterday, Mr Wong confirmed that the Superintendent was sacked for “failing to take appropriate action on discovering that the ventilation window in the Family Visitation Block toilet was unsecured”, and committing the “serious error” of ordering the window’s handle to be sawn off, instead of instructing the renovation contractor to install grilles.

In response to West Coast GRC MP Arthur Fong’s query on why the Director of the ISD, had escaped punishment, Mr Wong reiterated that responsibility for the lapse was based on “a set of objective tests”, including whether the officer failed to discharge his duty or whether there was “a diversion from approved systems and processes”.

Said Mr Wong: “To ascribe to (the Director of the ISD) culpability over a lapse with such broad responsbility is, in my view, an unreasonable and overly onerous burden.”

Adding that the lapses “were not due to departmental-wide systemic or policy failures”, Mr Wong pointed out that the COI report did not find the Director of ISD to be aware of any of these lapses.

In taking those responsible to task, Mr Wong stressed that punishment “must be based on dispassionate reflection of what is reasonable and fair”. Otherwise, it would lead to “grave injustice”, which in turn would “only serve to undermine” the morale and commitment of the officers and eventually the effectiveness of the organisation.

Mr Wong was also asked whether the authorities believe that Mas Selamat is still in the country.

He said that there has been no foreign intelligence suggesting otherwise — which is why the authorities must continue to work on the assumption that Mas Selamat has not fled overseas.

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