Audit launched into Prez Muizzu-era MVR 561,000 English-writing deal

Male' City Council has moved to investigate a President Dr Mohamed Muizzu‑era contract that paid MVR 561,000 to a politically linked company for writing English documents, work the council now says it cannot trace.

The decision was taken unanimously at the 13th official general meeting of the fifth term of the Male' City Council held on Wednesday.

The issue was raised by Hulhumale' North Constituency Councilor Fathimath Zahiyya (Zaya). She said Kings Consultancy Pvt Ltd, a company owned by President Muizzu’s political associate Mohamed Hussain Shareef (Mundhu), was awarded the contract to write English documents for MVR 561,000.

She noted that the company was registered with the Ministry of Economic Development on 17 October 2021, and the announcement for the work was made on 10 November 2021.

Zaya added that the work done under the agreement has not been stored in the council, and there is no one in the council who knows how many documents were written.

“Councillors, in this developed age, is it something done to entrust a company to write an article in English? We are not talking about a few rufiyaa. We are talking about more than MVR 500,000,” she said, requesting that the matter be referred to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

Mayor Adam Azim said the matter has already been referred to the ACC. He added that, as requested by councillors, it is important to send the case to the council’s audit committee to review the documentation and clarify the issue.

Government spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef (Mundhu) told Sun that the company won the bid legally and accused the council of making politically motivated allegations. He said full documentation of the work done is available, and the monthly retainer fee covered public affairs, website management, international relations and training programs.

He accused the council of attempting to discredit experienced individuals who have served the state for over 30 years, adding that if investigations broaden, the council’s own spending on public meetings would reveal “millions of rufiyaa in waste.”

Mundhu urged journalists to check the terms of reference (TOR) and detailed documents before writing stories, saying the council’s allegations stem from “personal jealousy.”

There is also a case of the city council spending more than MVR 1 million on two public meetings this year, MVR 567,839.34 for the February meeting and MVR 585,137.34 for the July meeting, totalling MVR 1.15 million for two meetings lasting only a few hours.

This case is part of a long backlog of unresolved corruption and procurement issues from President Muizzu’s mayoral tenure. Two internal audits into alleged misconduct were completed earlier but not publicly released for years, leading to an RTI dispute and an order from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICOM) demanding disclosure. Mayor Azim later revealed that the council’s Information Officer had withheld audit findings without authorisation, delaying transparency.  

Separately, the council is already investigating a MVR 9 million digitalisation project awarded during President Muizzu’s tenure, which remained incomplete despite repeated contract renewals. That case has also been forwarded to the ACC.