Police Corporative Society (POLCO)’s Secretary Ibrahim Khaleel has been appointed to oversee the daily operations of the corporation following the suspension of its CEO Ahamed Anees.
POLCO’s board is currently reviewing a no-confidence complaint against Anees as the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) probes into corruption allegations against the corporation.
Sun has learned that Anees was called to attend the board meeting regarding the complaint on Sunday, but had failed to attend.
As such, the board decided to suspend Anees pending completion of the review.
Anees, who had served in Maldives Police Service for over 20 years, was appointed POLCO’s CEO during last year’s March.
The authority did not disclose any information regarding Anees’ suspension on Sunday itself. However, on Tuesday, Police confirmed that POLCO’s board suspended Anees on Sunday and appointed Khaleel to oversee the day-to-day operations of the corporation during the same meeting.
ACC has raided POLCO’s office twice as part of their investigation into corruption allegations against POLCO which pertains to the 2013 police housing project ‘Blues Housing Project’ run by the corporation.
The Auditor General’s Office released its audit of the project on January 23rd which uncovered losses amounting to MVR 354.7 million due to POLCO’s “corruption and incompetence.”
The audit uncovered that the project – which should have cost MVR 745.3 million or MVR 859.9 million at the most based on average market price – cost over MVR 1 billion.
The audit found the project resulted in losses amounting to MVR 354.7 million due to “corruption and incompetence.”
The case is also under investigation by a subcommittee of the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee.
During a meeting on Sunday, Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim, the chair of the subcommittee, said they hadn’t been able to access all the documents related to the case. Nazim said that the most important decision the committee must decide is what to do with top police officials implicated in the case.
He said that it is imperative to decide whether they should be allowed to remain in their roles amid the investigation.
The Parliament has also received a letter from a police whistleblower highlighting more allegations of corruption linked to POLCO.