Attorney General Ahmed Usham has stated that supplementary budgets of previous years was spent unlawfully before it had been approved by parliament, and said that action would be taken.
Attorney General Ahmed Usham has stated that supplementary budgets of previous years was spent unlawfully before it had been approved by parliament, and said that action would be taken.
In a press conference he gave yesterday, alongside Minister of Finance Moosa Zameer, at the President's Office, Usham said that the Constitution and the Public Finance Act clearly state that any expenses from the State budget should be made only after obtaining parliament approval.
He noted that as such, supplementary budgets also need to be submitted to parliament one month ahead and passed.
Usham said that in the past four years or so, spending from supplementary budgets were conducted before it had been passed by Parliament.
Usham, who had at the time been MP for Vilimale', said that the matter had been raised in parliament as well at the time.
Recent years have each seen supplementary budgets being passed after the initial State budget proves to be insufficient. The last year of Maldivian Democratic Party's administration saw a supplementary budget of MVR 6.5 billion being passed. However, opposition members had alleged even then that the administration had spent over the budget even before this supplementary budget had been approved in parliament. The administration at the time rejected these claims.
In yesterday's press conference, Finance Minister Zameer announced that a supplementary budget will be requested for this year as well.
He estimates that a supplementary budget of approximately MVR 5 billion will be applied for, but said that an actual amount would be set only after holding further discussions with the cabinet and the President.
This year's State budget is at MVR 49.8 billion.
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