Committee passes a MVR 50.5M budget to AG’s Office

Public Finance Committee of People’s Majlis has voted to pass the MVR 50.599 million requested by the Attorney General’s Office for 2018.

The Committee voted to pass the budget with the vote of all eight members who attended the meeting this Monday.

Speaking during Monday’s Public Finance Committee meeting, opposition members North Kulhudhuffushi MP Abdul Gafoor Moosa and Kaashidhoo MP Faisal Naseem both spoke in support of the proposed budget.

MP Gafoor noted that the budget was MVR 3.4 million more than the previous year’s budget, but said reducing the budget could adversely affect the work of the AG’s Office.

“I don’t see much of a difference in the budget for this year and the proposed budget for next year. We have charged the Auditor General with certain responsibilities and us refusing to facilitate the execution of these responsibilities may be a problem,” said MP Faisal, who also spoke in support of passing the budget.

Meanwhile, Vilufushi MP Riyaz Rasheed said the People’s Majlis was often accused of obstructing agencies from executing their legal obligations when their budgets were cut down.

Riyaz said the bulk of the AG’s Office budget was allocated for salaries, with MVR 13 million allocated for additional expenses. MVR 3 million has been allocated for travel expenses and MVR 1.1 million for education and training.

“The budget is bigger in three areas compared to previous budget. I believe the additions are due to changes in prices,” said Riyaz.