State Minister for Home Affairs put under accusations of corruption

Some staff of the Department of Penitentiary and Rehabilitation Services (DPRS) have sent letters to three different institutions, accusing the Minister of State for Home Affairs Mohamed “Monaza” Naeem of corruption and breach of trust and requesting those institutions to investigate into the matters.

The letters have been sent to the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Auditor General’s Office and the Ministry of Home Affairs.

According to the letters, Naeem does not follow the rules of attendance to office both at DPRS and the Ministry, and when he was given the attendance sign-in card, he threw it away. According to the accusers, no records show when he attends office, when he is on leave or vacation, though he has not given up a single penny out of his salry.

“This is in contravention to the Finance Act, and a downright breach of trust, and so we request you to investigate into it”, read the letter written to Niyaaz Ibrahim, the Auditor General and Hassan Luthufy, the President of the Anti-Corruption Commission.

Of the three letters whose copies have been received by Sun, the one addressed to Hassan Afeef, the Minister of Home Affairs, some 15 issues against Naeem have been noted. Among them, the issue of maladministration and a bundle of consequential problems at DPRS since Naeem became the head of the institution, the issue of employing an individual who was under investigation by the police for trafficking huge amounts of substance, the issue of employing one of his personal employees at DPRS as a maintenance consultant, the issue of using one of the vehicles belonging to DPRS for personal use, the issue of using a prison officer as a personal bodyguard, the issue of lying to the public about some programs conducted by the DPRS are included.

The letters were accompanied by CCTV footage and documents containing details of expenditure which, according to the letters, were solid proof of their claims.

When Sun tried to contact Naeem about the matter, he responded to his phone said that he was in a meeting, and asked to call after half an hour. When an attempt to contact was made after 30 minuts, Naeem did not pick up his phone.

When asked about the matter, Hassan Afeef, the Minister of Home Affairs, said that he had not received any letters of complaint. The ACC, on the other hand, confirmed the receipt of the letters, and said that it was looking into the matter, while the attempts to contact the Auditor General’s Office have been futile.