Minister Shafeeq reveals that payments expended as compensation to various individuals amid the first three months of this year were for the purpose of settling agreements signed by the former government that may incur additional burdens if delayed.
Minister of Finance, Dr Mohamed Shafeeq has stated that this administration has not made any agreements to compensate any parties and declared that the the compensation payments issued during the first three months of this year are to settle the remaining payments from the communications held during the time of the former government.
The Minister shared with Mihaaru News that the compensation payments disbursed at present are to parties that former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's Settlement Committee had issued some payments to. He revealed that the reason for issuing these compensation payments right now is because the compensation agreements were settled with conditions where the State incurs additional fines if these payments fail to be processed.
While statistics disclosed by the Ministry of Finance on 31st March indicates that the State had expended a total of MVR 83 million (USD 5,304,898.16) as compensation payments this year, Minister Shafeeq predicts that there is chance for this amount to grow in the future.
"With counsel from AG (Attorney General), we thoroughly researched how we can proceed without issuing this [the compensation payments]. But now, there is a schedule for distributing these payments. And there is a fine incurred daily if it [the schedule] is not adhered to," said the Minister of Finance.
Maintaining that the former government had made most of their agreements in a way where any delays entails additional burdens onto the State during the period before they stepped down from their administrative roles, the Minister asserts that consequently, these payments cannot be delayed.
"In review of the compensation payment from back then [former government], truthfully, compensations need to be issued to an amount that is the same as last year's." remarked the Minister.
A total of MVR 101 million (USD 6,534,081.88) was apportioned for the compensation budget last year however, this budget was exhausted beyond its reserve by fivefold with a total expenditure of MVR 557 million (USD 36,034,491.16) spent by the end of the year. The compensation budget allocated for this year's budget is also a reserve of MVR 101 million.
Shafeeq assured that payments are being distributed in review of this after identifying payments that require immediate settlement.
The Ministry of Finance had addressed an appeal lodged by Mihaaru News last January requesting details on the parties that were compensated by the State, stating that the names of these people as well as the individually disbursed amounts cannot be divulged. The Ministry maintained the reason for withholding this information as the anonymity policy incorporated while proceeding compensation communications. Shafeeq revealed that these agreements to keep the information confidential were signed during the former government's tenure.
Over the course of the last 13 years, the State had expended MVR 2.7 billion (USD 174,673,476) as compensation payments for numerous parties. While 74 percent of this number was disbursed during the preceding 5 years of former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's administration, MVR 2 billion (USD 129,387,760) was expended on compensation amid this time.
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