The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC), on Tuesday, began assessing a MVR 4.4 million corruption case surrounding the National Center for Information Technology (NCIT).
The audit report was requested by the Minister of Communication, Science and Technology Maleeh Jamaal. ACC will decide on investigating the matter following assessments.
According to the report published on ACC's website, a procurement tender announced 2017 for software licenses, an active directory and hardware for its data centre was found to have violated financial regulations.
Certain aspects of the report, despite being unnamed in the document, implicates then-State Minister for Finance Mohamed Ashmalee.
It states that NCIT was communicating with the project's contractor 'Maxcom' prior to the tender announcement. Furthermore, it revealed that 50 percent of the total project cost (MVR 3 million) was paid in advance against regulations. As per the agreement, the remaining MVR 1.5 million was distributed before the project concluded.
Although the centre paid Maxcom the full amount, NCIT owed MVR 658,101 less than the project cost due to delays.
The report also states that NCIT's procurement department was not involved in the bidding process.
ACC noted Ashmalee to have signed the payment vouchers for Maxcom. However, he did not have the authority to release funds at the time.
Auditor General Hassan Ziyath extended his intention to recover the state funds and strengthen the functioning of NCIT.
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