No officer suspected of bribery retired: Customs

None of the officers suspected to have been involved in the bribery and fraud cases being investigated by Maldives Police Service, where they are alleged to have had MVR 400 million circulated through their accounts, have been retired from work, said Maldives Customs Service today.

Police are investigating the case of three customs officers in connection with alleged bribery within the import duty collection process.

However, the claims are circulating on social media with pictures of the alleged Customs Officers, saying that the agency allowed them to retire honourably.

Regarding the matter, Customs issued a statement today saying they have been informed of a case of money laundering, fraud and bribery being investigated by Maldives Police Service which includes several of their officers

However, none of the officers suspected by police have retired from Customs, the agency said.

Some of the issues have also been escalated to the Parliament's 241 Committee. According to Mihaaru, the committee has held classified meetings and questioned the leadership of relevant government stakeholder agencies.

Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Ahmed Nazim said last December that uniformed bodies cannot also be blindly trusted and that he would propose finding solutions for issues such as drugs once the current cases of the 241 committee were completed.

Customs officials have often always been on the receiving end of various allegations during the importing process of various items into the Maldives.