Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC)'s report on the MVR 1.3 billion corruption scandal of Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) was incomplete, declared former Auditor General Niyaz Ibrahim, who had brought the embezzlement to light.
The graft watchdog's report, which was released on Thursday, revealed that a staggering amount of state funds acquired via the lease of islands and lagoons, had been embezzled from MMPRC. The corporation had received only USD 12.5 million out of USD 77.5 million owed to the state as acquisition costs.
According to the report, former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb and MMPRC's former Managing Director Abdulla Ziyath were at the root of the embezzlement. They had used a private company, SOF Pvt Ltd, which had received much of the acquisition costs owed to MMPRC via island and lagoon leases. SOF was discovered to have then transferred the stolen funds to various businesses and individuals, including politicians and lawmakers.
Regarding ACC's report, former AG Niyaz told local media Mihaaru that the total amount of funds embezzled from MMPRC would amount to MVR 3 billion. He stated that he had informed ACC of the details during his tenure as auditor general.
Niyaz went on to claim that MMPRC's funds were deposited not only to SOF, but to Adeeb himself along with companies of which he was a stakeholder. The embezzled funds had also been distributed amongst top officials of the then government and members of parliament. He claimed that some are still serving in high state posts while some of the lawmakers in question are preparing to run in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Furthermore, the former AG proclaimed that some members of ACC along with their relatives had also received embezzled money. He stated that he had submitted all the relevant information to ACC, which had failed to make any mention of it in its 779-page report.
ACC's Vice President Muaviz Rasheed refuted Niyaz's allegations that the report was incomplete, stating that it was "the full investigative report", with details of all the findings of the commission's MMPRC probe.
Muaviz added that the report was compiled not by the members of ACC but its investigators.
While some members of ACC face corruption accusations, Niyaz stated that a complete report on the MMPRC scandal would be possible through a police criminal investigation, or by appointing law-abiding members to ACC.
The former auditor general was one of the key figures in bringing the MMPRC embezzlement case to light. According to Niyaz, he had brought the graft cases linked to Adeeb and the previous administration to the attention of then President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom. However, Niyaz claimed that the president had dismissed the red flags he raised.
Niyaz then released an audit report in 2014 detailing how millions of dollars in state funds were being transferred from MMPRC to private accounts linked to Adeeb. Following the audit report, Niyaz was dismissed from his post by the then government-led parliament.
The former auditor general later shared information on government-linked corruption in Maldives with the media organisation Al-Jazeera, for its expose on Maldives, 'Stealing Paradise'. Niyaz became the object of various death threats in the wake of the documentary's broadcast, and he fled with his family in 2016 to Sri Lanka. He returned to Maldives after President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih came to power in late 2018.
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