State sues Aslam for phone bill exceeding MVR 300,000

State has filed a lawsuit against Mohamed Aslam - the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure during former President Mohamed Nasheed’s administration – for a mobile phone bill of MVR 312,928.

A hearing in the case was scheduled in Civil Court this Thursday at 10 am.

The MVR 312,928 phone bill was revealed in 2010 audit report of Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure.

The audit reports said MVR 312,928 was paid from the ministry’s budget for Aslam’s mobile phone bill from June 2009 to August 2011.

The Auditor General had noted that Article 102 of the Constitution stated that the salary and incentives of Cabinet ministers is decided by People’s Majlis. And instructed that the illegally paid money from the ministry budget be reclaimed and transferred to the State’s Consolidated Revenue Fund.

Ministry of Finance and Treasury has requested Attorney General’s Office to prosecute a number of other former high-ranking government officials in similar cases.