It has come to light that an advance payment of MVR 3.7 million made by state-owned Maldive Gas to a Dubai firm for the purchase of gas has gone missing, triggering an investigation by the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC).
ACC confirmed to Mihaaru News that it is now looking into a case concerning Maldive Gas.
The issue came to light in a statement made by Deputy Speaker of the parliament and ruling party member Ahmed Nazim at the public accounts committee meeting yesterday.
While a large amount of money paid in advance was lost, attempts to recover the funds have not been successful, he said.
"There has been no success in recovering the money [lost]. There are things like this. So, making advance payment to parties without any security and losing that sum while the PCB has specific procurement policies, is a big problem," Nazim said.
The public accounts committee will look into such individual issues closely, he said.
Nazim later told Mihaaru News that Maldives Gas changed its regular gas supplier in October last year and that the Dubai company was initially paid 30 percent of the full payment in advance.
He also said Maldive Gas could not explain why they changed suppliers, and that the company's Managing Director Abdulla Mohamed was given an opportunity to resolve the issue but the payment has not been recovered.
He said the parent company of Maldives Gas, STO, is investigating the matter, with STO now assuming all gas purchasing authority.
Maldives typically orders 1,000 tonnes of gas per shipment.
“Companies should make sure that they are in line with their procurement policy and PCB rules,” Nazim said regarding the situation.
Apart from the issue, companies are also constantly spending a lot of wasteful money on procurement, he said at yesterday's committee meeting.
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