Malé, Maldives – Former Prosecutor General Ahmed Muizzu has stated that the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC)’s fraud case is gradually being forgotten, and that Parliament Members do no seem to be bothered by it.
The former Member of Parliament and High Court Judge, Muizzu said this in a reply to the tweet made by Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)’s Chairperson and MP of West Henveyru Constituency, Hassan Latheef.
Hassan Latheef tweeted saying that no one found it odd that the government just gave over MVR 30 million to people they do not even know, also adding that while the ventilators have still not been received, it is strange that some people are talking about getting the money back to the government.
Hassan Latheef referred to the ventilator scandal surfaced following an audit by the Auditor General’s Office, which suggested foul play in all three contracts awarded by the Ministry of Health, to procure 142 ventilators for the state during the year 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Muizzu replied to that tweet, saying that what is more strange than that is that everyone seems to have forgotten about the MMPRC’s fraud case, and that in the humongous financial loss that the government incurred, not even a single bit has been taken back from the perpetrators.
While 60 out of the 75 ventilators have still not been delivered from Dubai’s Executors General Trading LLC, the PG office had decided to uphold their earlier decision to not go ahead with the prosecution of the 11 individuals involved in the case including the then Minister of Health Abdullah Ameen, 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 those involved.
