Case sent to PG Office, against Customs Director for using post to confer undue advantage

A case against Customs Director of Finance and Accounts Ismail Hamdhoon, alleging that he conferred undue advantage to a particular group through use of influence from position, has been sent to the Prosecutor General’s Office (PG) for prosecution.

In a statement released today by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) stated that the commission investigated a case where in July 2009, Customs had placed an order for the production of MVR57,000 worth of shields, without any prior announcement for submission of estimations.

The statement also said that their investigation had brought to light another incident where in 2009, an order worth more than MVR25,000 was placed for the production of a number of awards, which was also done without prior announcement for estimations. The awards were given to employees to show appreciation of their merit during the customs anniversary celebration that year.

The Public Finance Act states that any spending above MVR25,000 must be made after announcing to seek parties for estimations.

ACC said that those transactions were carried out after the customs tender committee had informed the employees not to make such transactions without proper announcements, and that those transactions were carried under the permission of the Customs Director of Finance and Accounts Ismail Hamdhoon.