ACC President rebuts Sheikh Imran

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has fired a strong rebuttal in answer to criticism by President of Adhaalath Party Sheikh Imran Abdulla, with regard to the commission’s report released yesterday that declared that there was no corruption involved in the bidding process of leasing Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) to the Indian infrastructure company GMR.

Speaking to Sun, President of ACC Hassan Luthfy strongly condemned Sheikh Imran’s comments on DhiTV last night and that it is not very responsible of the sheikh to choose to criticize the commission without properly reading the report. He said that public faith in religious scholars has diminished because of Sheikh Imran’s uninformed remarks of the report last night.

“I was ashamed that a religious a scholar like Imran chose to make such accusations. I am really ashamed, especially since he knows how things are in religion,” Luthfy said.

He said that ACC is not required to shape their work according to Sheikh Imran’s wishes but instead, it is the law that guides them and that the sheikh’s criticism will not change the commission’s decision.

He further said that their report states that there was no corruption involved in the bidding process of leasing the airport to GMR and that the report does not absolve the company of corruption in the processes that followed.

Speaking on a Khabaruthereyn program on DhiTV last night, Sheikh Imran said that ACC has not been consistent in their statements regarding the leasing of INIA to GMR and their recent report does not make sense.

ACC’s investigation report on the leasing of INIA to GMR published yesterday declared that there was no corruption involved in the bidding process of deal. However, it does not provide details on the process as a whole.