Auditor General advises to reclaim public funds spent on phone bills of Shaheed, Naseem

Auditor General Niyaz Ibrahim has advised in the Audit Report of Ministry of Foreign Affairs for 2011, to reclaim the public funds spent on private phone bills of former Foreign Ministers Dr Ahmed Shaheed and Ahmed Naseem.

In the Audit Report published today, Niyaz said that MVR 15,000 was paid on phone bills for Dr Shaheed, who served as foreign minister until the end of 2010; while MVR 42,757 was paid on phone bills for Naseem, who assumed the post of Foreign Minister in April 2011.

The report also noted that MVR 94,919 was paid for a Singapore roaming mobile number used in Male’ by Naseem.

Niyaz has advised to take relevant action under the Public Finance Act against those responsible of spending public funds in violation of the law, and to reclaim the money spent on these two officials’ phone bills and deposit those amounts in the public bank account.