Most compensation was illegal, agreements to be canceled: AG Usham

Attorney General Ahmed Usham has stated that the previous government illegally released assets worth one billion rufiyaa to various parties as compensation, and that work is underway to nullify those agreements.

At a press conference held today at the President's Office, Usham said that the previous government's Compensation Committee at the President's Office had decided to compensate 10 parties. This includes monetary compensation as well as resorts and lagoons, with most cases involving illegal compensation.

The Attorney General said that during the transitional period after the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) lost the 2023 presidential election, state assets worth hundreds of millions of rufiyaa were released as compensation without submitting to the committee.

Usham said that a special team from the Attorney General's Office is investigating these cases, and so far, it has been noted that compensation was given illegally in many cases. He also said that all agreements for illegally given compensation will be canceled.

"If there is a case that needs to be submitted to court for nullification, we will nullify the agreements through court if state assets have been given to any party illegally," said the Attorney General.

Usham said that work is also underway to nullify cases that can be canceled without going to court, and this will be completed very soon.

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu dissolved the Settlement Committee that was formed by the previous government to compensate parties who suffered losses due to the cancellation of agreements in various cases. At that time, the committee had decided on cases submitted by various parties, concluding that the state should pay large compensations.

According to the President's Office, when the Settlement Committee was dissolved, it had decided to give over MVR 225 million in compensation to various parties. In addition to money, when valuing the fixed assets, islands, and lagoons allocated, the committee had decided to give assets and money worth MVR 1 billion from State property as compensation to various parties.

The Settlement Committee was first formed on January 27, 2019, at the initiative of former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. The purpose was to compensate parties whose agreements with the government were illegally terminated during former President Abdulla Yameen's administration.

However, when the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) criticized the committee and submitted the matter to the People's Majlis, the parliament advised the government to proceed with the compensation system for State projects transparently. As a result, after suspending the committee's work, guidelines were formulated, and the committee resumed giving compensation.