Presidential Commission on Corruption and Asset Recovery has announced it is pursuing investigations pertinent to two corruption cases which had earlier been closed by the Anti-Corruption Commission of the Maldives (ACC).
Speaking at a press conference held at the President's Office, President of commission Ahmed As'ad said it has been decided to launch investigations into two cases which are believed to be concluded without an adequate investigation. In this regard, he revealed the commission is probing into the case involving the construction of the 25-storey building of Dharumavantha Hospital, as well as the case involving the development of Fushidhiggaru, a lagoon leased for tourism purposes.
The 25-storey building of Dharumavantha Hospital was constructed by the Singapore-based Shenhua Construction at a cost of USD 143 million. An investigation was conducted by ACC following a complaint regarding suspicions of corruption in constructing the building. However, ACC concluded the case in 2017 after ruling there was no corruption involved.
Meanwhile, a joint venture agreement was signed by the government with Prime Capital Maldives Private Limited for the development of Fushidhiggaru as a Special Economic Zone in 2013. However, the government failed to hand over the lagoon or create the joint venture firm stipulated in the agreement. Prime Capital Maldives has recently submitted the case to the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC).