Male’, Maldives – Anti Corruptions Commission of Maldives (ACC) has revealed that there are 30 ongoing high priority investigations with regards to the Maldives Media and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) grand corruption.
The members revealed this during the meeting of the Committee on Independent Commissions, in which the members of ACC were bombarded with questions on the reason of delays in the investigation of the MMPRC corruption case and when it would be concluded.
Answering the questions, President of ACC Mariyam Shiuna revealed that the investigation is being carried out in collaboration with the commission formulated by the government to look into corruption matters, as well as other institutions of the government and that 30 people are under investigation as high priority cases. However, Shiuna highlighted that it would be very difficult to give an exact date by which the investigation would be concluded.
Adding on, member of ACC Ali Ashraf said that with the establishment of the presidential commission to investigate matters related to corruption, all documents relating to MMPRC which were in ACC have been forwarded to the commission, and that the matter is being investigated by several institutions of the government, it would be difficult to give a conclusive date by ACC alone.
While this is so, Speaker of the Parliament Mohamed Nasheed said on Tuesday that he would be publicizing 70,000 text messages related to the case, which have already been submitted to the , saying that “It is difficult for us to look into the messages from here. So it has not been done yet. Since the 70,000 messages are in my possession, I will be publicizing these 70,000 messages for the public to see.”
The MMPRC case, which surfaced in 2015, is the largest corruption scandal to rock the Maldives in history. Following initial investigations, the Auditor General’s Office disclosed that MVR 1.2 billion in state funds, acquired via island and lagoon leases, had been embezzled via the corporation, which later increased to MVR 1.4 billion after the investigation by Anti Corruption Commission (ACC).
