ACC launch investigation into BAM election, surrounding corruption allegations

According to ‘Mihaaru’, the Badminton Association of the Maldives (BAM) was subjected to a raid conducted by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) last Tuesday. The purpose of the raid was to investigate allegations of corruptions surrounding BAM’s election.

The ACC issued an order to postpone the election of the association. “We have ordered for the election to be delayed until ACC investigates the matter and issues a decision” said a note received by ‘Mihaaru’. Sports Commissioner, Mohamed Tholal, also previously ordered the postponement of the BAM election.

The association’s election is scheduled to take place tomorrow. However, following complaints made to the Sports Commission, Tholal raised legal issues and asked to amend the rules of the procedure before the election. Before the announcement of the election, he expressed concerns and asked the BAM not to proceed with the election until the issues were resolved. However, the association did not respond to the letter and went ahead with election-related work.

As pointed out by Tholal, the proposed amendment to the voting rules is the most significant change which needs to be introduced prior to the election.

Based on the election list, it was revealed that certain Badminton Development Centres (BDCs) located in different atolls are casting over a hundred votes each. A representative of the BDC votes on their behalf, equivalent to the number of members in the respective BDCs. These BDCs are not registered with the Sports Commissioner’s office either.

“Each party must cast one vote at the general meeting and if any entity other than individual members vote at the meeting, they must be registered with the Sports Commissioner’s office. Even after registration, entities can only cast one vote”, said Tholal, on a meeting held on Monday.

According to his statement, the meeting also explored the possibility of seeking the opinion of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) via the Olympic Committee on the next steps to take. This is because the current EXCO period of the BAM may expire if the elections are not held before the scheduled date.