Authorities order travel ban on ex-Finance Director of PSM

The former Finance Director of Public Service Media (PSM), Ahmed Haneef has received a no-flying order from the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in relation to ongoing investigations.

The ACC has been investigating a major corruption case related to the state-run media.

An official from the commission, speaking to ‘Sun’ confirmed Haneef’s travel ban, and noted the travel ban was issued on Sunday but did not give any further information other than this.

It was revealed that the former Finance Director had transferred over MVR 1 million of PSM’s money to a personal bank account of his son. The information came to light through an audit report of the Auditor General’s Office.

The audit report primarily focused on the receivables to PSM in currency-exchange transactions with several third-party private exchangers. The report also highlighted MVR 9,034,083 in total was unaccounted for as well. This includes:

MVR 4.58 million withdrawn from PSM bank account between the period of 2020 to April 2024 for currency exchange purposes

Earnings to the company from 2017 to April 2024

MVR 4.26 million accepted for various other purposes

MVR 190,087 physical cash held in PSM’s safe

The audit report further revealed that while a total of MVR 5,785,346 was withdrawn from PSM’s accounts through multiple occasions to exchange for a total of USD 373,988; the amount equivalent to MVR 4,583,701 (USD 297,257) was never collected to PSM.

The media had received just MVR 1,201,645 worth (MVR 76,731) out of the total money withdrawn for currency exchange.

Additionally, PSM had transacted MVR 1,284,479 in online payments for currency exchange, a total of MVR 1,164,068 – equivalent to USD 75,491 – withdrawn for currency exchange was deposited to the bank account of Haneef’s son through multiple occasions.

Besides this, the audit report provided further insight into corruptions tied to the state-run media.