Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) has revealed it will announce a decision next week on pressing charges against Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment Ahmed Mahloof.
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has ordered Minister Mahloof to step aside from his duties until the PGO makes a decision on the corruption charges pressed against him in relation to the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) corruption scandal. PGO has begun evaluating the case after the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) submitted the case and will be announcing its decision next week.
ACC stated the investigation into the scandal revealed that Mahloof had received funds embezzled from the state through MMPRC in 2014. As such, ACC revealed Mahloof had received a bribe of 33,000 US dollars 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.
Furthermore, ACC said the investigation had revealed a cheque for 33,000 US dollars 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 is charging Mahloof under Article 2(A) of the Anti-Corruption Act, on counts of bribery and embezzlement, and under Article 521 of the Penal Code for providing false information to an investigative authority.