Samoa Police are investigating the removal of what the Ministry of Customs and Revenue is calling ‘confidential rubbish’ from a disposal site.
Chief Executive Officer Matafeo Avalisa Viali-Fautua'alii said the ministry is aware that confidential waste documents containing various taxpayers’ information have been widely publicized on social media forum mainly the Facebook, since Saturday, 12 June or Sunday, 13 June 2021.
According to Matafeo, the documents were used by officers during their reviews, amendments, reconciling and testings, reassessment and drafting works and therefore were not required to be filed as records but are stored in their ‘confidential waste bins’.
The confidential waste bags publicly posted and shared on Facebook, was part of the confidential rubbish that were sent to be disposed off at the Tafaigata landfill on Thursday 10 June 2021.
Matafeo denied the documents were found on the roadside as claimed on Facebook.
The ministry warns that it is an offence to remove confidential documents and such a breach can result in a fine and imprisonment.