MDP government left Fenaka in deeper debt than estimated: Muaz

Managing Director of Fenaka Corporation Muaz Mohamed Rasheed has said that the amount of debt accumulated by the corporation during the previous Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) administration is much higher than had been estimated. He revealed that reviewing of documents had so far unveiled the debt to be above MVR 4.3 billion.

Speaking at a gathering of People's National Congress (PNC) last night, Muaz said that the amount of debt accumulated by MDP had only come to light after President Dr Mohamed Muizzu had assumed office. He said that once the actual figures came to light, it was seen that the debt amount was much higher than in the audit report.

As per the audit report, Fenaka's debt was at MVR 4.3 billion at the end of the previous administration.

Muaz said that after Fenaka's situation was reviewed after PNC assumed governance, a large number of unpaid bills were found. There were also bills where the work had been contracted but not officially recorded, he said.

"These projects were not recorded. Last weekend, we went to Raa Atoll. In every island someone approaches us at the harbour and says these are the bills for work done, that they haven't been paid for the work they did. Payments for work done in 2021, 2022, 2023. None of these are mentioned in any books at Fenaka," Muaz said.

Muaz said that when he had taken over the post of MD at Fenaka, there was MVR 1.7 million pending in payments to work done by various persons. Out of this, MVR 300 million has been paid within the past seven months.

He revealed that a decision had been reached to discontinue any projects begun by the MDP government that would cause loss to Fenaka, adding that relevant offices had been notified of this. As an example, he brought up a project where Fenaka was contracted to build 48 ATMs at misappropriate prices.

He stated that many projects had been given to Fenaka which they did not have the capacity to complete, such as the building of nine ice plants that were contracted by the Fisheries Ministry.

That project, too, was contracted so that Fenaka has to spend over the price, he said.

"Fenaka was contracted to build nine ice plants for MVR 4.9 million. At a very low price. A lot more than that has been spent [by Fenaka]. We have informed the Economic Ministry that we want to cancel this agreement," he said.

"We have informed the Fisheries Ministry as well about the ice plants. That we will not proceed with the ice plants that have been contracted. That is because we are not a construction company."

Muaz said that the misuse of tax payers' money by MDP was evident in looking at the condition of Fenaka alone. He called for swift action to be taken against the corruption conducted during MDP's administration.