ACC previously revealed that an unprecedented amount of cases have been lodged against FENAKA, which is being investigated with high priority.
Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) has begun an investigation into the state-owned enterprise FENAKA for depleting the budgets of 60 projects without completing them.
Speaking at the parliament's committee on Independent Institutions, ACC's president Adam Shamil said today that the commission is thoroughly investigating how FENAKA managed to deplete the budgets of all 60 projects while many remained unfinished.
He revealed that all 60 projects were in house projects carried out within the past five years, meaning they were implemented during former president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's administration. Out of these, only 14 projects were completed, but the budgets for the remaining projects were entirely used up as well, he accused.
Shamil also revealed that the commission has made some discoveries in this case, with multiple suspects identified as well. ACC is currently in the process of probing into the bank transactions of these suspects, he further detailed.
"Without looking into that, we won't be able to learn how those individuals acquired illicit wealth, [we need to] do a net worth analysis of those involved in the cases. By looking at how bank transactions were made, and analysing [their] financial benefits," Shamil said.
Once the transactions are studied, the investigation would be able to identify the source of their wealth, he said.
Shamil revealed that the suspects are currently accused of being involved in five crimes, which include abuse of office to provide an undue advantage, abuse of position to receive undue benefits, fraud, bribery and illicit enrichment.
During yesterday's meeting, ACC informed the committee that an unusually high number of cases have been filed against FENAKA, and these cases are being investigated with high priority.
Some of the cases under investigation include six cases involving the former management of the company from former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's administration. ACC Vice President Abdul Salam also detailed that other cases involve FENAKA's decision to handle certain projects in-house.
The purpose of running in house projects is to hire a large amount of employees on contract basis, he said. But such hiring practices without a set limit results in a lot of expenses, he said.
"[There is a case where] halting the development of a power plant that was estimated to cost MVR 15 million ended up costing MVR 38 million because it was managed in-house with hired employees. The reason for the high expense is employee wages," Salaam said.
He also said that FENAKA has incurred significant expenses for its employees, including double payments for staff meals where employees were reimbursed for food expenses and transfers were made to restaurants twice for the same meals.
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