Who is at fault for the notice: the frontline officers involved or the senior civil servant overseeing them?
“Opinions are divided among ourselves,” said a veteran civil servant, speaking on condition of anonymity. “In this case, the senior official can say this was an execution problem by frontline staff. Such a high-ranking official doesn’t micromanage to this level.”
But another said: “Can the head truly shrug off supervisory accountability? It may depend on whether he or she turned a blind eye to questionable practices. But it’s hard to prove.”
The new mechanism targets department heads for “widespread, repetitive, systemic” failures, aiming to clarify administrative blame.
Former ministers, high-ranking bureaucrats and political observers pointed to the practical challenges of attributing responsibility amid scandals, and questioned the government’s decision not to make it a legal requirement to publish full investigation results.