Male’, Maldives – Prosecutor Generals Office (PGO) has submitted a case to criminal court against the former Finance Minister and later Vice President of the Maldives, Abdulla Jihad over corruption of K. Fushidhihgaru tourism zone development project.
Prosecutor Generals Office said that the initial decision made on November 29, 2011 by the cabinet was to develop Fushidhihgaru as a special tourism zone under 50 percent government equity joint venture company agreement. The decision stated that the government would not have to spend any money on the project and that the land rent of the project area would be paid to the government.
However, as the Finance Minister at the time, Jihad had signed a different agreement from the one which was passed by the cabinet. Prosecutor Generals Office had said that Jihad signed an agreement with a company called Prime Capital Maldives limited to make a joint venture company with 25 percent government equity instead of the 50 percent passed by the cabinet.
Because of the changed equity percentage, the government would lose a total of USD 604,713,750 in rent and primary location charge. In addition to this, as the equity had been changed from the initially passed 50 percent to 25 percent, the profit from the company’s business to the government would also be reduced.
The statement by Prosecutor General’s Office also stated that this case was initially filed at Anti Corruption Commission on August 29, 2013 but the case was dismissed from the commission stating that there was no corruption involved in the process. This case was later assigned to the Prosecutor General’s Office by the Commission on Corruption and Asset Recovery which was formed after the current administration came in to power to investigate the suspicious actions of the last government.
