Villa Group Chairman Ibrahim Qasim stated that the transactions legitimate between Villa Travels and Tours Pvt Ltd and SOF Pvt Ltd were legitimate and that there was no thievery committed.
Anti-Corruption Commission’s (ACC) investigative report on Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC)'s embezzled funds revealed that USD 700,000 was deposited in the Villa Travels bank account.
In the ceremony to inaugurate the campaign held at the Fenfushi, Alif Dhaal, to contest for the Maamigili constituency in the upcoming Parliamentary Elections, Gasim said that his company Villa Travels is licensed to buy and sell Dollars.
While omitting SOF’s name in his speech, Gasim revealed that the MVR equivalent was exchanged to SOF on the two occasions that the company sold Dollars to Villa Travels and that Gasim had the business transaction documents.
Also serving as Speaker of the Parliament, Gasim said it was not known at the time when his company bought the Dollars from SOF that the money was from the MMPRC corruption case and that during that time Villa Travels was seeking USD from various sources available as it was not provided through banks.
In defence of Villa Travels, Gasim stated that while purchases for Villa airlines tickets are made in MVR, a sum amount at the same cost would have to be paid by Villa Travels to airlines in USD and as such Villa Travels requires a large quantity of Dollars.
Gasim declared that if Dollars are to be sold, it would be bought, reasoning that “Even now, Villa Travels’ expenditure for airlines reaches more than USD 1 million or 2 million during some months. How would that be feasible without receiving the money in exchange through the Banks?”
Moreover, Gasim previously stated the ACC report was incomplete and appealed for it to be completed. He said that the ACC report details the culprits who had made the transactions from the bank, and questioned where the people that had taken the cash were.
“It would only be known when the list of people that received hard cash is disclosed. Currently there is only a portion of the list. I appeal the Anti-Corruption Commission to disclose the rest soon. That would be fairness, right?”, said Gasim.
Furthermore, Gasim revealed that although the transaction between Vila Travels and SOF is included in the ACC report, Villa Travels was not questioned about the exchange by the commission.
The graft watchdog's long awaited report on the shocking MMPRC corruption case revealed that the funds embezzled from MMPRC had been laundered through SOF, with the involvement of a large US dollar exchange network.
The report also exposed the identities and account details of individuals and businesses that received funds from SOF, many of which did not have the capability for such transactions, according to ACC.
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