PPM lawmaker accuses opposition MP of receiving MMPRC’s stolen funds

Ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM)’s Inguraidhoo MP Ibrahim Falaah accused the opposition lawmaker of Galolhu South constituency, Ahmed Mahloof, of receiving some of the state funds that were embezzled from Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) by jailed former Vice President Ahmed Adheeb.

MP Falaah made the grave accusation late Tuesday while slamming the activities of the joint opposition. He declared that while the opposition accuses the current government of being corrupt, the opposition itself has prominent members that used the funds embezzled via MMPRC and that MP Mahloof is one of them.

“I don’t care if they accuse me of defamation and fine me. Mahloof took that money,” declared the deputy leader of PPM’s parliamentary group.

Falaah further claimed that he is ready to prove that MP Mahloof had received the MMPRC funds and that he is prepared to swear on it.

MP Mahloof has since refuted the accusation, declaring it false and baseless. He added that Falaah is accusing him of corruption due to Mahloof’s activities with the opposition. Brushing Falaah off as “unimportant”, Mahloof said that he is prepared to face every challenge in his course.

“I’m working for the rights of the people, against President (Abdulla) Yameen and (Abdulla) Maseeh, who is holding onto the chair of Parliament Speaker by force.”

While MP Falaah has accused MP Mahloof of receiving embezzled funds of MMPRC, President Yameen recently acknowledged that his former deputy Ahmed Adheeb had embezzled the funds and used them during the parliament election campaigns to elect lawmakers from the ruling party. Declaring that MMPRC’s funds had not entered only his house, the president has called on lawmakers that received money from Adheeb during the parliament election campaigns to resign and run for the seats using their own means.

The MMPRC scandal is the largest case of corruption in the history of the Maldives, where over MVR 1.2 billion state funds, which were acquired as island leases for resort development, were embezzled via the corporation.