Malé, Maldives – After the Anti Corruption Commission stated that they believe that corruption is involved in the issuing of driving licenses and vehicle registration, the Transport Authority has denied these accusations. and condemned the ACC’s statements.
This comes after an ACC consultant – CDC’s Dr. Simad Saeed stated at yesterday’s Parliamentary Committee on Independent Institutions meeting that corruption levels were observed to be exceptionally high in the issuing of driving licenses and vehicle registration.
He claims that there are cases where more than 70 vehicles are registered to the same garage, and that the Transport Authority does not check if a garage is suitable- or a building used as a pharmacy or a salon.
He also added that vehicle registrations have been made after bringing small changes to addresses. Dr. Simad advised to change the current system used by the Authority- which he claims allows for various individuals to bring numerous adjustments and allows fraud.
This can be stopped by embracing a new digitalized system, according to the ACC consultant, who added that decentralization is important to prevent further corruption in these services. He also suggested that local councils should provide these services instead of the Transport Authority.
After these claims were made by Dr.Simad, the Transport Authority has released a statement today refuting these claims. They said that they follow policies and only register 4 wheeled vehicles in Malé after confirming that a garage is available for the vehicle.
They added that the existence of the garage is validated through a garage permit issued by Malé City Council or the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) that is to be submitted with the vehicle registration form and that these documents are looked at thoroughly before approving vehicle registration.
They further explained that since corruption in vehicle registration was previously suspected, the Authority has been checking garages that are submitted along with registration request. And that if the the authority finds that the building submitted as the garage is not a garage, or does not meet the requirements to be a garage, the registration request is subsequently denied.
