Parliamentary Committee on Independent Institutions, on Monday, refused to approve the dismissal of the incumbent members of the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC).
The request was lodged at the committee by the parliamentary representative for Inguraidhoo constituency, MP Hassan Ahmed, and sponsored by the parliamentary representative for Galolhu South constituency, MP Mickail Ahmed Naseem.
The move to dismiss the members was formally submitted after several members of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) expressed dissatisfaction over ACC's failure to adequately investigate high profile corruption cases.
Although the committee rejected the push for dismissal, the committee finalised the decision to individually summon each ACC member to the parliament for an inquiry regarding the challenges faced during corruption investigations.
In addition to MP Ahmed and MP Mickail, Monday's committee meeting was attended by Meedhoo MP Rozaina Adam, Henveiru West MP Hussain Shameem, Vilimale MP Ahmed Usham, Thinadhoo South MP Abdulla Saneef, Velidhoo MP Mohamed Abdulla Shafeeg and Gan MP Mohamed Visham.
Several MDP parliamentarians have criticized ACC for conducting a sub-par investigation over the Ministry of Health's fraudulent procurement of ventilators for Maldives' COVID-19 response, blaming the corruption watchdog for the failure to press charges against any of the implicated individuals.
Although the Prosecutor General's Office stated that there was insufficient evidence to press charges, ACC maintains that enough evidence was collected to prove violations of the Public Finance Act and that the actions of the ministry's bid committee were intended to secure illicit enrichment for certain entities.
ACC requested the PG Office to review its decision on Sunday.
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