Male’, Maldives – Maldives Police Service has concluded the investigation process of the sexual harassment allegations against former Tourism Minister Ali Waheed, and has forwarded the case to the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO)
This comes as Maldives Police Service had previously revealed that the discussions to complete the investigation process is underway with the Prosecutor General’s Office. As such, upon amending all necessary areas, the matter has been forwarded to the PGO to raise charges against Ali Waheed, revealed the Police.
In addition to the sexual harassment case, Ali Waheed is also under investigation by the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC), regarding 8 different issues which were highlighted in the compliance report published by the Auditor General’s Office, concerning the expenses made with regards to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. It has also been reported that another case, also regarding the minister and several employees of the ministry is being investigated, which was submitted to the commission by the public.
The audit report by the Auditor General’s Office highlighted several cases of possible corruption and misconduct, which includes the expense of MVR 26 million by the ministry, with regards to Covid-19. However, 99% of this expense is was reported to have been unnecessary.
Further, issues concerning the procurement of items in excess than requested by the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), and allocation of MVR 7.8 million as the professional fee of foreign medical personnel of a response and coordination team were highlighted in the report.
Ali Waheed was removed from his position as the Minister of Tourism of Maldives, over multiple allegations of sexual harassment of the ministry he oversaw, which was then followed by the council of Jumhooree Party (JP) deciding to move to remove Ali Waheed from his position in the party as well.
Although his removal was not immediate as news of the allegations broke out, Spokesperson of the President’s Office had immediately publicized that President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih had ordered Ali Waheed to tender his resignation – some thing which he did not do even at the point of his dismissal.
