Special audit finds Deputy Minister Hussain Jawaz among officials who took money from the MVR 30 million lost in the FAM land project

A special audit has found that Deputy Minister of Youth, Information and Arts, Hussain Jawaz, the former General Secretary of the Football Association of Maldives (FAM), is among the officials who received money from the MVR 30 million lost from FAM’s Hulhumale' football training facility project.

The government earlier confirmed that MVR 30 million had gone missing from the funds FAM was supposed to receive by leasing land allocated for the development of an international‑standard football facility.

According to the special audit, FAM was expected to earn around MVR 52 million from the land lease. However, auditors found that approximately MVR 30 million was lost, with the report stating that senior officials had taken possession of the funds.

The audit identifies three individuals as having received the money:  

• Bassam Adil Jaleel, former FAM president  

• Mohamed Agil, former finance head  

• Hussain Jawaz, former general secretary and now deputy minister  

Bassam is currently serving a 32‑year jail sentence for embezzling FAM funds. Agil has been charged and was arrested after fleeing abroad. Of the three, only Jawaz remains free, and he was appointed deputy minister shortly after resigning from FAM.

Annex III of the audit states that Jawaz personally received MVR 1.2 million in cash from a private company on three separate occasions. One excerpt from the audit notes: “Jawaz has received MVR 1.2 million in cash on three occasions…”.

The Auditor General has recommended that FAM recover the lost funds and that action be taken against all individuals responsible for the financial loss.