MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) –Turkey’s MZ Visa processing office in the Somali capital, Mogadishu has been closed over corruption scandal involving the axing of staff by newly hired employees under the orders of Somalia’s Acting Prime Minister.
The Acting Prime Minister and MPs from Somaliland lobbied the office to hire new employees from the region, who played significant role in the axing of the office’s permanent staff from Mogadishu and southern regions of the country.
Sources told Somaliguardian that the newly hired employees plotted the dismissal of previous staff by accusing them of fraud and showing false evidence.
One of the newly hired employees placed 900 USD notes on top of money cash box during night time that led the office’s deputy managing director, who was among the newly hired individuals to take action, letting all of the office’s previous staff members go without prior notice.
The office was later marred by corruption and applicants seeking visa documents for visit to Turkey are said to have been told to pay extra-money, in addition to the mandatory visa application fees.
An investigation conducted this week retrieved CCTV footage that exposed the scandalous scheme used to dismiss the employees of the Turkish MZ Visa office in Mogadishu.
Following the scandal, Turkish officials met Somalia’s Acting Prime Minister Mahdi Guled who was kept in the loop of the process in which the new employees – who were behind the plot to fire previous staff members – was hired. They told him that the office was closed until further notice with ongoing investigation.
The office was earlier relocated from the Turkish embassy following a scandal that exposed Somali MPs had been reselling Visa documents obtained through corrupt conduct.
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