MVR 16 million project, no documentation, emails deleted

Documents relating to the expedition of a Malé area school project which was awarded to a contractor for the price of MVR 16 million during former Education Minister Dr Aishath Ali's tenure are missing, said Education Minister Dr Ismail Shafeeu at the Parliament yesterday.

The Minister's remarks were made in response to a question by MP of South Fuvahmulah constituency and ruling party People's National Congress (PNC) member Ibrahim Hussain, about the delay in completion of schools.

"The contractor of a very big school in Malé came to use two weeks ago. [They] said that MVR 16 million is owed to them by the Education Ministry. That the work was done on an agreement. However, there is no documentation. No communication," the Minister said.

"It was not approved by the finance executive. No approval from the bid committee. No approval from the Finance Ministry. When we tried to see if the Education Ministry had engaged in any communication, the [former] Minister had deleted all the emails. So we cannot see it. This is how it is."

Local reports say that as per the agreement with the contractor, variation fees were also paid. However, the MVR 16 million owed now is for the cost of expediting the project.

Last June, the Education Ministry filed a police case against former Education Minister Dr Aishath Ali over the deleted official emails. On the day the police investigation was initiated, Aishath Ali posted on Facebook that someone had attempted to access the email address.

She said that her email address was deactivated on the last day of the previous administration.