Former Managing Director of Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) Abdulla Ziyath, who is convicted of embezzling USD 5 million owed to the state, has been charged with another corruption case.
The then Managing Director of MMPRC during its major corruption scandal in 2015 is already serving a prison sentence over the case. The second charge against him was sent to court on January 10. Details of the case is yet unclear but a man named Shahid Hussain of Raa atoll Kinalhohu island has also been charged in the case.
Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has revealed that the No. 10721 land plot and its building in reclaimed suburb Hulhumale were purchased by Ziyath during his tenure as MMPRC’s head, under his younger sibling’s name, using state funds earned via the leasing of Mathiveri sandbank in Alif Alif atoll. ACC did not specify which of his siblings’ name was used for the purchase.
But it is yet not confirmed whether he is charged over this issue. The trial of the case is scheduled to be commenced on January 26.
The MMPRC scandal is the largest case of corruption in the Maldives history, where MVR 1.2 billion worth of funds received as acquisition costs via island leases for resort development had been embezzled through the corporation. Ziyath is currently serving a eight year jail sentence over the corruption, while Police and the ACC are probing various cases related to the embezzlement.
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