Events

MINSK, 4 April (BelTA) – The creation of a single forensic inquiry service will allow reducing the number of relevant employees by 25%, said State Secretary of the Security Council Mr Leonid Maltsev at the President-chaired government session on 4 April. The session was held to discuss the establishment of the state forensic enquiry service, the press service of the head of state told BelTA.

Leonid Maltsev remarked that the personnel reduction will not hinder the service’s performance.

Alexander Lukashenko believes that the state forensic inquiry service should take its proper place in the government system. Depending on the place, the status, personnel salaries and other matters will be dealt with.

“Nobody has the right to use this moment in order to improve their financial status. It won’t happen!” warned the head of state.

He stressed that when financial matters have to be dealt with, “a wise approach is required as if you were spending your own money”.

“We cannot offend the people in any way. The moment should not be used to raise or reduce your status and salaries,” remarked the President.

“We have built a certain system and it is a ranked, subordinated one. If we try to make a new body part of the system and it fails to match its place regarding salaries and status, the move will unbalance the entire system,” said the head of state.

Alexander Lukashenko said he believes it is necessary to decide now whether the organization will be militarized. “No half-baked decisions. We should work out an optimal decree to determine these matters,” stressed the President.

He remarked that decisions made during the modernization of the Investigation Committee and the public prosecution should be borne in mind when creating the personnel structure.

“I urge you to take into account where nodes of the service will be created in order to make it manageable. Don’t follow the traditional path. It is necessary to choose an optimal variant but certainly not to the detriment of the service,” stressed the President.

Alexander Lukashenko drew attention of those present to the need to work out the optimal title for the new body: either a service, a committee, or a ministry.

Speaking about the service being subordinated directly to the head of state, Alexander Lukashenko said it needed thinking about. “Frankly speaking, I wouldn’t like the service to be accountable directly to the president. It needs thinking about. But it will not be completely right to subordinate it to the government because the government is virtually limited to dealing with economic matters. I am inclined to turn the service more towards the judicial branch of power,” said the head of state.

Yet Alexander Lukashenko agreed the service can be subordinated to the president for the duration of the establishment phase but warned that it will be more difficult to re-subordinate the organization later because its status will have to be lowered.

The head of state gave instructions to polish the draft decree on establishing the state forensic inquiry service and forward it to him by the end of the month.