Parliament passes that PG violated the constitution

Following assessment of the audit report of the Prosecutor General’s (PG) Office for 2010 by its Public Accounts Committee, the Parliament has passed that Prosecutor General Ahmed Muizzu had violated the constitution. The Parliament also decided to forward this case to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

At today’s Parliament sitting, 46 MPs voted to pass that the PG had violated the constitution, while two MPs voted against this decision of the Public Accounts Committee and three MPs abstained.

The committee report which followed a study of the PG Office audit report for 2010 states that the expenses for a banquet in the honour of the participants of an e-crime conference held by the PG Office in collaboration with International Association of Prosecutors, were made in violation of article 8.15 (b) of the constitution, as no announcement was made to seek the most suitable party to provide the service. The report states that the case will thus be forwarded to the ACC.

In addition, some interior design work following the transfer of the PG Office to the former Faculty of Health building was not included in the agreement made to cover this work. Thus this work was done without a proper agreement on the quality and price of services, as obligated in article 8.21 of the Public Finance Act. This case will also be forwarded to the ACC.

MPs brought to the attention of the Speaker of Parliament, the fact that no announcement had been made that Muizzu had left his post as PG subsequent to the Parliament passing that he had violated the constitution.

This procedural issue was raised by Maafannu-south MP Ibrahim Rasheed, who said, “We have decided that the Prosecutor General violated the constitution. My question is, will he continue to hold his post? Why can’t this be decided as well?”

Deputy Speaker of Parliament Ahmed Nazim responded by saying that the procedure to remove members from independent posts is stipulated in the law.

The Parliament also passed the Public Accounts Committee’s decisions following assessments of the audit reports of the Employment Tribunal, Police Integrity Commission, Attorney General’s Office and Human Rights Commission.