An SIU investigator will also contact the agency complained of, for further information or clarification of
the issue raised by the complainant. If the matter can be resolved (eg. Complainant was finally given an
opportunity to meet the Police Commissioner for his case) at this stage, then it becomes an Early
Resolution case. If no satisfactory answer is given by the agency complained of, then a formal
investigation5 is warranted.
During this financial year, SIU received a total of 93 complaints with a minimum of 5 to 22 complaints
per month. This is more than double the amount of complaints received in the last financial year (i.e.
53.7% increase). This can be credited to increased awareness of the investigative role of the office from
initiatives that the office has proactively taken on in an effort to establish and promote effective complaint
handling in Government Ministries and agencies.
SIU INVESTIGATIONS
Suspended
7%
Pending
6%
OOJ
22%
Closed
31%
Referral
34%
OOJ
Referral
Closed
Suspended
Pending
Of the 93 complaints received, 87% of SIU matters have been resolved in that they have either been
referred to the relevant agency, suspended for lack of contact (i.e. complainants who did not come back
for second meetings after 6 months with Investigating Officers irrespective of follow ups), closed following
investigations/early resolution processes and/or dubbed as out of the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. On
average, it takes an SIU officer 3 to 200 hours to work on a file depending on the gravity and complexity
of the complaint.
The most complaints that SIU has received during this financial year are against SPCS, namely from
prisoners via our Ombudsman complaint boxes. In December 2019, SIU worked alongside SPCS to put in
place, an Ombudsman Box in every prison for complaints. These complaints are collected on a bi-weekly
basis. Administration-wise, most of the prisoners are requesting for parole and are complaining about the
5
A formal investigation is when the investigation team notifies both parties that it intends to do so and thereby
proceeds to conduct interviews, request documents, site visits, and write a formal investigation report with
findings and recommendations.
Office of the Ombusman/NHRI Samoa Annual Report 2019/20
32