Male’, Maldives – Member of Fonadhoo constituency, Moosa Siraj has called to remove all the members of Anti Corruption Commission with the accusation that they do not investigate major corruption cases.
While debating on the amendment proposed by the government to the Anti Corruption Act , Siraj said that only small and insignificant cases are being investigated by ACC and that major corruption cases are not investigated. Giving an example to the works done by ACC, Siraj said that they spend over MVR 30,000 on travelling to islands to investigate cases of MVR 2,000 and that while no major cases have been investigated by the commission, not even a single case had been sent for trial as well.
“Maybe this is a result of the members we have appointed. Maybe they are not qualified. If this is the case, I call to remove all the members we appointed and hand over to people who can carry out the responsibilities” Siraj said.
He said that even though MMPRC case might seem like the biggest corruption case which happened during the last administration that there were more such cases and that he is not seeing ACC investigating through a proper mechanism. Siraj added that retrieving the lost states money and bringing those responsible to justice was a presidential pledge of MDP and that this pledge was not being achieved at considerable speed.
He said that if the members of ACC are not able to carry out their duties, this was the best time to remove them and appoint people who can accomplish the mandate of the commission. While he and other MDP members have raised their concerns about the current ACC members, all the members in the Anti Corruption Commission were appointed in 2019 with the approval from parliament after MDP got the super majority.
Moosa Siraj is also a notable lawyer who handled famous cases before he was elected for parliament, which includes the Former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb’s case. Moosa Siraj was one of Former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb’s lawyers defending him on the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) scandal which cost the government more then MVR 4 Billion.
