Managing Director Ahmed Saeed has stated of Fenaka Corporation Limited had USD 47 million in unpaid bills from Fuel Supply Maldives Private Limited (FSM) in 2018 when he was appointed to lead the state-owned company.
Speaking to PSM News, Managing Director Saeed said FSM, which is a subsidiary of State Trading Organisation (STO), has been supplying fuel to Fenaka since 2017. He refuted rumours that Fenaka has been negligent in paying for fuel but said there had been some slight delays in payment due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Noting the previous management that had been negligent in paying the bills, Saeed said Fenaka has so far paid USD 117 million for fuel. As such, Saeed said he had found that Fenaka had an unpaid fuel bill amounting to USD 47 million and that the bill was later paid by the current management.
Furthermore, Saeed said the current management has also reduced the debt by USD 3.2 million and that it has not taken any loans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Saeed also said he has not yet found the reason why the previous management failed to pay the fuel bill despite taking loans from the Ministry of Finance and Maldives Islamic Bank (MIB) and not making any investments. Fenaka is currently focused on providing continuous electricity to citizens and modernising the power stations, he added.