MVR 4 million misappropriated, incurred MVR 261 million debt under last management: Zeena

Maldives' state media, Public Service Media (PSM), announced today that MVR 4 million of the company's funds was misappropriated in dollar exchange transactions made with a private party during the former administration. Additionally, the company was MVR 261 million in debt when the new management.

In a media briefing held by PSM on Wednesday, the company's Managing Director Zeena Zahir detailed that the dollar exchange transactions in question were made by the company's former financial head Ahmed Haneef, and that they were carried out without communicating with the management, over the course of four years.

She also added that these transactions which were made without any formal agreement between both parties and violated PSM's policies and regulations.

"We took the necessary actions upon discovering that from 2020 onwards, large amounts of funds were deposited into an individual's account from the company's budget in a suspicious manner to purchase dollars," she said.

It was revealed that Ahmed Haneef was suspended last April over the matter, and that he has since been dismissed from the company.

"Documents show that over MVR 4 million is missing. When we took over PSM's safe had no money. Even PSM's dollar account did not have a single dollar," she went on to say.

Zeena also said that investigations found multiple issues concerning Haneef's integrity and that the matter has been reported to Maldives Police Service. She also added that the Auditor General's Office has stepped in to conduct a special audit of the company to better understand the financial transactions that have taken place in the company since 2017.

"While this case is ongoing, we're also receiving complaints from our employees. The individual who worked as the Financial Head borrowed money from the employees in the amounts of MVR 50,000, MVR 60,000, MVR 80,000. This money has not been returned [to them]," she said.

Speaking further at the press conference, Zeena said that these financial discrepancies were shared with PSM's previous management and board, as well as the Privatisation and Corporatisation Board (PCB).

Since discovering these issues, the current management has hired an internal auditor and is now working on strengthening its financial operations, Zeena said.

Adding onto the company's financial struggles, Zeena also revealed that the company was MVR 261 million in debt when she took over as the Managing Director of PSM back in November 2023.

Highlighting that this overwhelming debt is one of the biggest challenges faced by the company at this time, she roughly broke down the total value and revealed that PSM owes MVR 122 million to the government and state owned enterprises while more than MVR 27 million is owed to private companies and various individuals. An additional MVR 25 million exists as the company's debt to foreign parties while it also has MVR 88 million in loans, excluding potential debt which may get added from ongoing court cases, Zeena further revealed.

However, MVR 9 million of this debt has been paid off so far, she said.

In order to curb its current financial situation, PSM has reduced its daily expenses by 20 percent and unsubscribed from some licenses due to the high fines being accumulated as a result of not paying the licensing fees, Zeena said.

"[PSM's] earns an average monthly income of MVR 1.5 million. However, this is not even sufficient for the monthly electricity bill. The electricity bill alone is around MVR 1.9 million," she said adding that the company's current financial situation makes it difficult to manage its utility bills.

Zeena further said that the company, which currently has 384 employees, is limiting expenses to a needs only basis while they work on formulating a long term plan to put its finances in order, reduce cost and increase its income.