The Managing Director of Aasandha Company Ltd, Mariyam Shafeeq, on Saturday night, stated that National Social Protection Agency (NSPA) was behind providing financial aid for locals stranded abroad due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
According to her, Aasandha only carried out NSPA's requests to assist the agency in providing the funds.
MD Mariyam's statement was made following the publication of the compliance audit report on the spending of NSPA and Aasandha in the COVID-19 response.
The audit report released by the Auditor General's Office highlighted questionable issuing of funds in providing financial aid, such as issuing MVR 150,000 to 26 individuals that did not forward their flight ticket copies. It was noted that key details regarding these individuals were not recorded in official documents.
Additionally, the audit report highlighted that Aasandha had disbursed MVR 116,000 to three individuals well before their departure dates.
Moreover, the audit revealed that Ministry of Foreign Affairs had also issued funds to certain individuals, in addition to Aasandha.
Responding to the report, Aaasandha's MD stated that Aasandha, NSPA and the Foreign Ministry decided to assist those stranded in foreign countries when the state imposed a lockdown in the Greater Male' Region.
Mariyam noted that aid was first provided to individuals, including those who had travelled to India with assistance from Aasandha and NSPA, listed in a document sent from the Indian consulate.
"It is actually NSPA's responsibility to disseminate the funds. However, since it was a period of lockdown, it was difficult for NSPA to do that with the state budget, after opening the government [office]", she said.
"Since Aasandha has a separate account, Aasandha entered into this to disperse [the funds] on NSPA's request".
The financial assistance was granted as an advance payment for a period of two weeks, as the Bank of Maldives (BML) only opened once every two weeks for two hours at the time, Mariyam noted.
She added that some of the individuals were repatriated after they received financial aid. However, she stated that at the time of disbursing the funds, the state had not planned to carry out any repatriation efforts.
Therefore, she noted that those who were repatriated after they were granted financial aid was asked to return the funds to the authorities.
"The audit report was released while we were attempting to collect those funds", she said.
Following the release of the audit report, , Auditor General Hassan Ziyath instructed Aasandha and NSPA to collect the funds distributed in excess and hold negligent employees accountable for their mistakes.
The compliance audit had also revealed that Aasandha had transferred MVR 9,000 to an individual, after the institution was informed of his death. It further noted that four individuals received funds from both Aasandha and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with more than MVR 21,000 being issued to four people.
In several instances, stranded individuals were given excess funds or did not receive the required amount.
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