Malé, Maldives — The former Islamic Minister, Dr. Ahmed Ziyaadh to be charged over corruption allegations.
A case has been forwarded to the Prosecutor General’s Office by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), to charge Dr. Ziyaadh over corruption allegations regarding the agreement to award the construction of the Dhaaruhzikraa mosque (Zikra Mosque) to SJ Construction.
Along with Dr. Ziyaadh, the case also requests to put charges on the head of the Endowment section of the Ministry at the time, Abdullah Saeed.
According to the case forwarded by ACC, the Islamic Ministry had requested permission to construct the Zikra Mosque before the month of Ramadan in 1439, on two occasions to the President’s Office.
Before permission was officially granted to the Ministry, they had forwarded the information that contained three proposals specifically stating that the proposal of SJ Construction was the one with the most convenience to the state to the President’s Office.
According to Islamic Minister Dr. Ziyaadh, they had sent letters to the President’s Office although the case forwarded by ACC reads that no reports were seen in the Ministry’s records of how the proposal was obtained.
The evidences and witnesses revealed by ACC investigation shows that the project was aimed at providing unfair advantages to a certain party which could relate to corruption charges against Dr. Ziyaadh.
The charges brought against Dr. Ziyaadh includes of misconduct in an official capacity and misuse of the official capacity and official information in the Penal Code.
Furthermore, the investigation also discloses that the agreement and project procedure was not beneficial to the state, resulting in massive losses to the state and unfair advantages to the SJ Construction company.
