President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom declared that the embezzlement case of Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC), the biggest corruption scandal in the nation's history, could not be deterred "due to the system".
Speaking at the presidential debate hosted by the Maldives National University on Monday night, the president declared that the embezzlement of MVR 1.2 billion via MMPRC which involved the then Minister of Tourism Ahmed Adheeb, was not because of how the president had been running the country.
“It’s a problem with the system. The minister would not even have remained in that post had the system identified him committing such crimes”, he said, holding Adheeb accountable for the graft embezzlement.
During the debate, the moderator Dr. Ibrahim Hassan asked the president whether his ignorance of Adheeb’s crimes had been due to the way the president was running the country or a systemic problem, at the time President Yameen appointed Adheeb from tourism minister to his vice president.
In response, President Yameen stated that the state, including Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) and Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA), had had no grounds to tackle the embezzlement due to the lack of systemic policies in place.
“Consider this: a cheque from one company to the other would not enter the government's system. It has to be cleared in order to enter the state ... A check for MMPRC was deposited at a company called SOF. There is no way for another government ministry or department, or even MIRA, to know about it. "
The president additionally stated that it was a systemic problem that no queries were raised when a government-owned cheque was requested to be deposited to a private company.
President Yameen further declared that it is not the responsibility of the president to look into cases of corruption, but rather that of the state institutions.
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