Male’, Maldives – The case of Anti Corruption Commission’s President, Mariyam Shiuna and Asset Recovery Commission’s President, Ahmed Assad has been sent to the Parliament’s Independent Commissions committee for further investigation.
The case was presented to the Independent Commissions after Youth Minister of Maldives, Ahmed Mahloof stated that he has proof that could lose the integrity of Shiuna and Assad. It was presented by MP for Villimale’ Constituency, Ahmed Usham.
Speaking to local media outlet Sun, MP Usham stated that a Minister putting such a big accusation on members of Independent Commissions should be a concerning matter. Concerning this, Usham informed that he has presented the case to the Parliament’s Independent Commissions.
Minister Mahloof has been accusing Shiuna and Assad of influencing the decision that will be made on Mahloof’s involvement in the MMPRC case. Minister Mahloof also accused the individuals of pressuring Prosecutor General Shameem from delaying his case.
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on Wednesday requested the prosecution to fast track Mahloof’s case, which was submitted to PGO in 9 June 2021.
According to the investigation carried out by Maldives Police Service, Presidential Commission on Corruption and Asset Recovery and Anti Corruption Commission over the MMPRC corruption, Mahloof had taken a bribe of USD 33,000 to vote for the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Bill and also to remain in Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).
In addition to this, the joint investigation also showed that the investigation was able to link the text messages exchanged between Mahloof and Former Vice President of Maldives, Ahmed Adeeb (Bro) and the money deposited by SOF cheque of USD 33,000 to Mahloof to the vote taken in parliament as a bribe.
Mahloof, in his defence, says that he was a PPM Council member at the time of the vote of SEZ bill and voted as per the three-line whip set out for the vote by the party.
It was also revealed that Mahloof had given forged documents to Anti-Corruption Commission in an attempt to show that he had done a legitimate transaction to purchase dollars from SOF.
On the contrary, Mahloof accused that some names from the list had been removed due to political influence before being published and that he was being treated unfairly in the investigation.
