NEW CLAIM AGAINST CHAND
By ANDREW FANASIA
VICE Chancellor of the Solomon Islands National University (SINU) Dr. Ganeshwar Chand has been reported to have ordered the university’s ICT officers to allow him access official emails of staff.
His orders came after reports of his alleged “corrupt activities” were leaked to the media, the university’s ICT department insiders told the Solomon Star.
“Chand’s directives were a serious breach of university data and staff privacy,” one senior SINU official said.
“While we know that ICT can easily access staff official emails, it does not give Chand the right to have access to staff emails,” the official added.
“Chand’s action can be seen as an ‘abuse of power’.”
An ICT insider spoken to said although SINU does not have a policy on its data accessibility, Chand’s actions were not right.
The ICT insider said the vice-chancellor has given them no reason why he wanted to access the staff emails.
“But as far as we know, he’s investigating some of the local staff he had suspected of leaking out information to the media,” the insider said.
A raft of allegations was raised against Chand last week.
They include Chand turning SINU into an institution to recruit his cronies, mostly those who do not have jobs in Fiji or are retirees.
Chand was also accused of having more say in SINU’s recruitment process – meaning the recruitment in the HR and the various committees tasked to conduct interviews and recruitments are but rubber-stamps.
SINU insiders have also claimed Chand has engaged his cronies and relatives to be consultants for the university.
They also claimed his latest recruitment is someone that will take up a new post in the IT Department, and this is a direct appointment of one of his relatives.
The Solomon Star was told most of the foreigners SINU recruited through the influence of Chand were yet to be issued their work visa/permits.
“These are some of the reasons why Chand is ordering the SINU ICT department to thoroughly check all the staff emails if they are giving information out to the media and public at large,” SINU insiders said.
Chand has not responded to questions sent to him.
It’s understood the SINU Student Association is calling on the University Council to remove Chand.