Malé, Maldives – Former President of Maldives and current Speaker of the Parliament, Mohamed Nasheed has called for a no confidence vote for Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem over his decision to not prosecute individuals involved in the high profile ventilator corruption case.
The issue was investigated by Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) after an audit by the Auditor General’s Office suggested foul play in all three contracts awarded by the Ministry of Health, to procure 142 ventilators for the state. These include the agreements made between Executors General Trading LLC for 75 ventilators, MedTech Maldives Pvt Ltd for 50 ventilators and with Naadu Pvt Ltd to acquire 24 ventilators, out of which the agreement with Executors General which became the most controversial of all.
ACC had forwarded 11 names, including that of Minister Ameen, to the Prosecutor General’s Office to be charged with corruption under part (a)(2) of section 511, part (a) of section 512, part (b) of section 513 and part (a)(1) of section 313 of the Penal Code of Maldives. However, PGO revealed that due to insufficient evidence they have taken the decision to not prosecute any of the 11 individuals and sent back the report regarding ventilator corruption back to ACC.
According to ACC, PG had decided to uphold their earlier decision and not to go ahead with the prosecution stating that there was no new reason for changing PGs earlier stance on the case. They added that their review of the case submitted by ACC revealed no new elements that provide the basis for prosecuting the 11 individuals involved.
In MDP’s Parliamentary Group WhatsApp group last night, Speaker Nasheed questioned the “element” the PG office mentioned, stating that the reason for prosecution should be the fact that the ventilators were purchased using state funds.
He further went on to call for a motion of no confidence against PG Shameem and ACC President Mariyam Shiuna.
