Centre Enterprises MVR 400 million audit aroused suspicion

An audit was conducted to check the validity of documents stating Centre Enterprises had supplied the Health Ministry medical equipment and consumables, which only brought up more questions. This was amidst the charges submitted to the Civil Court by Centre Enterprises against the state regarding goods supplied amounting beyond MVR 400 million.

The company had stated they were to be compensated in the amount of MVR 79 million for supplying the Health Ministry with medical equipment and consumables between 2008 and 2010. They pressed charges in 2022 to the Civil Court regarding the matter.

The Attorney General's Office had requested a special audit to be conducted over the owed funds, which the Auditor General's Office is now conducting. It was during this audit that the fraudulent invoice was discovered.

After the audit was completed, Auditor General Hussain Niyazy released a report, which stated that Centre Enterprises had pressed a total of six charges against the state from 2008 until now. They had pressed charges against three state offices and companies for goods supplied.

The charges seek more than MVR 175 million, with a total of MVR 410.4 million including fines.

The audit report stated that the audits relating to some of these cases were underway, with details to be made public after they are done.

The audit report released on Wednesday by the Audit Office was a special audit regarding fraudulent invoices submitted by Centre Enterprises in their charges against the Health Ministry, amounting to MVR 79 million in unpaid dues for the supply of medical equipment and consumables. There are many reasons to believe that the invoices that were submitted are forged.

The Auditor General stated that the supplied goods had been paid for in 2008 as charges had been pressed against MACL.

As per the audit report, there are even more reasons that point to the documents submitted to the Civil Court by Centre Enterprises were forged. With that, Auditor General Hussain Niyazy recommended that a criminal investigation be conducted, as this is seen as an attempt to extort payment after forging documents. The parties that were involved are to be investigated, as per Niyazy.

"With the submission of illegitimate documents to a judicial court, it can be concluded that the company was working to extort payment from the state for goods that were not provided. We request the Maldives Police Service to conduct a forensic analysis into the documents submitted by the company, take steps against those who are involved and to conduct a criminal investigation into this case," as was stated in the Auditor General's report.

As per the audit, even though Centre Enterprises had submitted a case to the court in order to gain compensation for their services amounting beyond MVR 400 million, the amounts as per the company's financial statistics were not close to the total amount that was submitted in the lawsuit. 

The company conducted internal audits in 2008, 2009 and 2010. In 2008, the audit showed an amount of MVR 3,166. In 2009, the audit showed MVR 9,442,859 and in 2010, the amount was MVR 2,300,485. This brings the three-year total to MVR 11,746,510.

While the Auditor General recommended this be looked at as a criminal case, the Attorney General had already submitted a case to the authorities in May.

Centre Enterprises was registered in 2006 which included three shareholders. The three shareholders are Abdullah Arif, Ahmed Jamiz and Aleefa Ahmed, with Aleefa being the Managing Director. The company had denied allegations made by the prosecution stating that they had submitted forged documents at the time.