Malé, Maldives – The President’s Office stated that action will be taken against people appointed to government positions who are among those included on the MMPRC corruption list put together by the Asset Recovery Commission will be taken after a thorough investigation.
The list was released along with the joint committee report and the unaltered list of 281 individuals who are being investigated by the Asset Recovery Commission, with the commission’s stamp. The report also includes an unaltered list of 119 employees of the state complicit in the MMPRC corruption. However, the list shows that 63 percent of the people on the list have not yet been investigated and they are labelled as information collection.
While employees of the state can be removed from office, individuals in political positions must resign voluntarily or be removed from office after being sentenced by a court.
Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment Ahmed Mahloof, Minister of State of Housing Ministry Akram Kamaluddin, Auditor General Hassan Ziyath, officers of Police and MNDF are included in the list. Mahloof says that he will resign if prosecuted, while Ziyath has resigned.
Leaked documents of Maldives Marketing & Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) corruption case investigation which circulated in social media previously had also revealed that Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) leaders have been implicated in the case.
According to leaked documents on social media, Chairperson of MDP, Hassan Latheef, Vice President of MDP, Mohamed Shifaz and Parliamentary Group leader, Ali Azim have taken money from the MMPRC case for various political reasons, however, in the list published by the parliament, only Ali Azim’s name was implicated.
Due to allegations of being named on the MMPRC corruption list investigated by the 241 committee, Ali Azim has resigned from the 241 committee and he says that so far the Asset Recovery Commission nor the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) has questioned him regarding the matter. He also accused the leaked documents to be fake.
While Chairperson of MDP and the MP for West Henveiru, Hassan Latheef was voted in as the Committee Vice-Chair instead of MP Azim during the Committee meeting, Hassan Latheef has also been revealed to have received MMPRC corruption money from Adeeb. According to the leaked documents, Hassan Latheef received MVR 5 million to carry out the activities of Maldives United Opposition (MUO) which was the main opposition movement carried out in Maldives lead by MDP during the former administration.
Some of the things presented by the Committee includes of a request to the Asset Recovery Commission to fasten the work as some of the people who are being accused of this scandal are considered to be influential people. Along with this, the Committee also urged the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) members and professional equipment to investigate the matter
The list had names of people suspected of benefiting from the largest corruption scandal in the country and that people who used to work and some who are still working in the security forces, judiciary, independent institutions and as parliamentarians were implicated in the scandal.
The Chairperson of Parliament Judiciary Committee, Imthiyaz Fahmy had assured that the committee will release the MMPRC corruption original list as sent by the Presidential Commission on Asset Recovery with the stamp and that the leaked list currently circulating on social media is a fake, used as a divisive tactic to overshadow the actual work being done by the committee.
President of the Asset Recovery Commission Ahmed As-adh said that as this list has been leaked without proper investigation, not all members on the list are guilty. This can be confrmed after a thorough investigation as stated by the President’s Office.
