ACC to obtain foreign expert assistance on GMR cases

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has requested for assistance from foreign forensic investigators, in relation to three cases on GMR currently under investigation by the Commission.

ACC President Hassan Luthfee told Sun Online today that the ACC is currently investigating several cases related to GMR, such as the award of Ibrahim Nasir International Airport to GMR, the deduction of $25 per passenger from the concession fees, and one other issue.

He did not provide any details of the third issue under investigation.

“The GRM-related issues currently under investigation by ACC are rather technical. We have therefore requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make efforts to obtain free aid in this regard from a country such as New Zealand, Singapore or Philippines,” he said.

He said that the ACC does not have the means to investigate all the corruption-suspected areas in the agreements made between the government and GMR.

He added that the investigations have been delayed as a result of this.

He also noted that for ACC, budget limitation is a factor when considering obtaining foreign expert assistance; hence, the target is to obtain free aid.

Luthfee highlighted that provided that the ACC receives the cooperation of the relevant authorities, the investigation of the issue of ADC of $25 per passenger will be completed by 15 September.

“Some individuals we need to question in relation to this issue live abroad. We have to travel to their location to obtain their statements. We are facing financial difficulties in this regard as well. Nonetheless we hope to complete the investigation of the issue of ADC of $25 per passenger by 15 September,” he said.

Referring to ACC’s efforts to hire a forensic investigator, Luthfee said that first, efforts were made to hire an investigator from Hong Kong, followed by Malaysia and Singapore; of which the Malaysian party which expressed interest had proposed a price for its services.

“We are trying to obtain free aid. But we are nonetheless considering the Malaysian proposal as well,” he said.

GMR has filed the case on $25 ADC per passenger to a Singaporean arbitration court, while Maldives Airports Company (MACL) has filed a case to Civil Court, requesting for the annulment of the letter by the former Chairman of MACL which allows GMR to deduct $25 ADC per passenger from the concession fees.

As a result of this permission to deduct ADC from the concession fee, instead of receiving an income from GMR, the Maldivian government was required to pay $1.5 million to GMR for the past three months.