Male’, Maldives –The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) requests to prosecute former Chief of Defense Force, Major General Ahmed Shiyam for accommodating his sickly father at a VIP facility established for the matters involving the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) in Villimalé.
A statement released by ACC informed that the request to prosecute General Shiyam was sent to PG following investigations into General Shiyam using the Coast Guard building in Villimalé for his personal purposes from 2017 onwards to accommodate his father.
While ACC had initially decided that there was no corruption acts involved in this matter, the commission had reopened this case on August to further investigate it in detail.
However, the most recent statement revealed by ACC stated that the commission requests to prosecute General Shiyam for misusing his authority to use a VIP building of MNDF as an accommodation for someone who is not entitled the benefits of it.
ACC stated that the points that were noted from the investigation include accommodating General Shiyam’s father in the VIP building of MRCC from 18 July 2017 till 11 December 2018 although the rules clearly state that no member of the public is allowed to live in the building and even in the VIP area of the building.
ACC noted that this act was done by taking advantage of the fact that he was a government employee or of his high position to accommodate a member of the public who is not entitled to the benefits from a place that is taken care of by the state.
In addition to this, ACC also found out that an MNDF officer was kept at the VIP facility to look after General Shiyam’s sickly father and stated that under no circumstance, no high-ranking officer can instruct another officer to look after a commoner unless it concerns services related to the general public, under the officer’s official responsibilities and duties.
