Ombudsman Office Refers Police Officer and Traffic policeman to the Disciplinary Courts

9 February 2014: The Ombudsman Office investigated a complaint submitted to it from a citizen complaining of improper withdrawal of his driving license. The investigation revealed that a traffic police officer issued a ticket for “transporting laborers in a driving lane and impeding traffic”.

 

Based on outcome the independent investigation, it was found that the traffic policeman withdrew the driver’s license without a directive from the Director of the General Directorate of Traffic Affairs or his deputy. The policeman’s conduct was found to be in violation of the Traffic Law, specifically, Article 74 of Decree law 9 of 1979. The article states that withdrawal, whether in the form of suspension or cancellation, of a driver’s license, among other things, only be done after a receiving a directive that has been issued by either the Director or Deputy Director of the General Directorate of Traffic Affairs after their review of the violation. The law also requires immediate notification of the subject of the violation regarding the directive, whether it is the owner of the vehicle, the person responsible for it, its driver, or the license holder.

 

The Ombudsman Office has referred a police officer and a traffic policeman to the Disciplinary Court at the Ministry of Interior for withdrawing the driver’s license of a citizen without proper authorization.