Corruption worth MVR55m has been revealed: Public Accounts Committee

Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee has revealed today that so far, MVR55 million has been embezzled from state funds by various groups.

Chair of Public Accounts Committee and Dhiggaru MP Ahmed Nazim revealed details of three serious corruption cases that had been submitted to the Committee this year.

He said that the first case was about the embezzlement of MVR11.8 million by Aftec Solution, which collected money from Health Ministry without delivering the agreed medical equipment.

The second case was about the payment of MVR24 million by Disaster Management Centre (DMC) to ABC Company, which presented forged invoices.

The third case also involved DMC, when it provided MVR18 million to a company, when the Court had ruled that this money should not be taken from the accounts of DMC.

He said that audit reports had also revealed several cases of corruption; however, all cases other than the aforementioned three involve administrative issues, which are being investigated and rectified.

Nazim said that the MVR55 million was misappropriated by politicians who often engaged civil servants in the process.

“The money is misappropriated in different ways. Sometimes politicians use innocent civil servants to carry out these activities, while other times, LCs are opened to embezzle the funds. The DMC case was completely different. Several people, including senior officials to civil servants, were involved in releasing the money from the system,” he said.

He said that problems exist also in the systems, and that the Public Accounts Committee will commence discussions with implementation institutions on strengthening the systems.

Nazim assured that all obstructions that exist to removing civil servants and politicians involved in such activities will be fully eliminated.

He said that Civil Service Commission, Anti-Corruption Commission, Finance Ministry and Auditor General will be summoned to the Committee to investigate the action to be taken against corruption.

Nazim said that issues highlighted in the audit report are being investigated in order to strengthen monitoring of public finances.

He noted, as an example, that serious problems were highlighted in the audit report of Bank of Maldives of 2005; but the bank corrected those shortcomings with the advice of the Public Accounts Committee.

Nazim assured that the Public Accounts Committee will be committed to providing advice on rectification measures to all institutions.