President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has ordered Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment Ahmed Mahloof to step aside from his duties until a decision is made on the corruption charges pressed against him in relation to the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) corruption scandal.
Spokesperson at the President’s Office Mohamed Mabrook Azeez revealed Minister Mahloof has been asked to step aside from his duties following the charges pressed by Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) against him. Mabrook said the minister has been suspended until the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) makes a decision on pressing the charges in court.
ACC stated the investigation into the MMPRC scandal revealed that Mahloof had received funds embezzled from the state through MMPRC. As such, ACC revealed Mahloof had received a bribe of USD 33,000 from the embezzled funds to vote in favour of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) bill proposed by the then-administration, when he was a member of the parliament. ACC said Mahloof had arrived in the Maldives from Malaysia just in time for the parliament sitting held on August 27, 2014, where he voted to pass the SEZ bill.
Furthermore, ACC said the investigation had revealed a cheque for USD 33,000 had been deposited to Mahloof’s account by SOF Private Limited, which had acted as the main distributor of the embezzled funds. ACC noted the text messages exchanged between Mahloof and then-Vice President Ahmed Adeeb, as well as the date when the cheque was deposited confirms the funds received by Mahloof were bribes.
ACC further noted Mahloof had submitted a payment receipt to prove that the USD 33,000 deposited by SOF to his account was part of a currency exchange transaction. However, ACC said there is no solid evidence to prove that the funds were transferred for currency exchange.
ACC is charging Mahloof under Article 2(a) of the Anti-Corruption Act, on counts of bribery and embezzlement. ACC added Mahloof is also being charged under Article 521 of the Penal Code of the Maldives for providing false information to an investigative authority.