Funds allocated to Public Service Media (PSM) for preparation and implementation of an Islamic channel were confirmed missing by a recent audit report.
The audit report shows that more than MVR 1.4 million granted for the purchase of equipment for the creation of an Islamic channel have vanished and suggests that MVR 7.9 million was allocated to purchase equipment needed for creation of the channel.
Nonetheless, only MVR 1.6 million worth of equipment was bought by the media firm. Therefore the report clearly shows that MVR 6.2 million should be remaining in the account although the balance amounts to MVR 4.8 million.
“The financial statement shows that there is a mismatch between the allocated funds and the money spent by the media firm,” the report said.
Furthermore, the report shows that the Ministry of Islamic Affairs have not made attempts to retain the missing funds allocated to PSM.
A total of MVR 7.9 million was transferred to PSM from the ‘Vaguf Fund’ after having received the money from the ‘Zakaath Fund’. Vaguf Fund was granted the funds after the ministry had received a written quotation that covered all aspects of the costs to the company.
Instead of creating a new channel, PSM converted the name of an existing channel to ‘Munnaaru TV’. Likewise, the new radio channel that was supposed to be created was done in the same manner. They had assigned the existing radio channel, ‘Dheenuge Adu’, as their brand new channel.
The audit report reveals that similar issues were found in the projects of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs that were sponsored by the ‘Zakaath Fund’. Further, the report shows that the employees of the Centre of Holy Quran were receiving a higher salary than the civil servants of the government.
Dr. Ahmed Ziyad was the head of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs during the scandal. On the other hand, Ibrahim Khaleel was the Managing Director of PSM.
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