Male’, Maldives —MP of Maduvvari Constituency and Vice President of Opposition PNC, Adam Shareef has said to the Speaker of the People’s Majlis, Mohamed Nasheed that there is no reason to vote for a dishonest government.
The statement from Shareef comes after Nasheed stated that the ruling party, MDP will not stand by a government that steals while talking about the ventilator corruption scandal in the country.
Speaker Nasheed further stated that if the ventilator corruption case does not come to a proper justifiable end, then along with it being a huge loss for the Maldivians, it will also imply that the government was involved in the corruption act.
To this, Shareef stated that the statement from Speaker Nasheed referring that the incumbent government is stealing stuff proves that the accusations put on by the Opposition parties against the government are valid and that such statements from Speaker Nasheed will not help increase votes but infact, it gives no reason for the citizens to vote a dishonest government.
75 ventilators brought in by the Maldivian Health Ministry for their Covid-19 response plan have been surrounded with much controversy. Following a joint investigation by the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) and Maldives Police Service, it was revealed that former Minister of Health Abdulla Ameen and 11 employees of the ministry were involved with the expenditure of over MVR 30 million in violation of the Public Finance Act.
Among those who were requested by ACC to be prosecuted 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, are;
- Minister Abdullah Ameen
- Director Financial Executive Ahmed Aslam
- Deputy Minister Nishama Mohamed
- Deputy Minister Shiyama Mohamed
- Director Naushad Ali
- Bid Committee Member Aminath Shaufa
- Assistant Director Fathimath Limya
- Legal Officer Ali Shihaam
- Assistant Director Abdullah Hafeez, and
- Assistant Administrative officer Hussain Niyazk
Earlier today, the parliamentary group (PG) of MDP has decided against holding a no confidence vote to remove members of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). The motion was proposed by the Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Nasheed in a meeting today and put to vote within the MDP PG, with majority members voting against removing ACC members.
Nasheed’s comments come after PG Office decided not to prosecute the ventilator corruption case citing lack of evidence and money trail to any specific individuals. They added that their review of the case submitted by ACC revealed no new elements that provide the basis for prosecuting those involved.
While the then Health Minister Abdullah Ameen resigned from office after the matter hit headlines, some ventilators have since arrived. However, the new Health Minister Ahmed Naseem has said that there is no hope for any of the remaining ventilators to be received by the Maldives.
