Sources have said that Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) are currently investigating into the Minister of Tourism Ali Waheed and the Minister of Housing and Urban Development Aminath Athifa according to local media Mihaaru. Both were appointed to the Cabinet by the newly elected President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on November 17.
Reports suggest that the cases of both of these Cabinet members have been under investigation of ACC for a while although the commission has not taken any action against them.
ACC has been enquiring into Ali Waheed since he an element of corruption was suspected after he switched from Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) to the ruling party, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), on 20 May 2011. Ali Waheed has signed for Jumhooree Party (JP) after holding the position of chairperson of MDP.
The opposition party at the time accused Ali Waheed of accepting bribes worth millions of US dollars. Ali Waheed, however, stated that he did not join MDP for financial reasons.
Athifa, on the other hand, has been accused of corruption since she had been appointed as project manager of the Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure while she was the consultant of Vimla Construction who managing some of the housing projects of the government after the tsunami in 2004.
According to a special report released by the Auditor General on November 8, Athifa was accused of not properly checking with the appointed consultants while she was the project manager of the housing ministry. This led to the reconstruction of some of the sites that were appoved by the consultant agency thus the increase in cost for the whole project.
The cases of Ali Waheed and Athifa were revealed after ACC submitted documents requested by the committee that ensures the government officials were responsible for their deeds.
The committee, however, approved the appointment of the two ministers to the cabinet even though ACC were inspecting into the cases of both the ministers. On the one hand, Ali Waheed’s ticket to the cabinet was given by JP of the ruling coalition. On the other hand, Athifa was selected from the Former President’s Maumoon Reformed Movement (MRM) which is also a part of the coalition government.
All of the members of the committee agreed that even though a case remained in the ACC does not mean that they were accountable for the accusations made against them. As long as they have not been proven guilty, the committee can approve the appointment of the two members to the cabinet according to the members of the committee. The committee has not found an issue with the rest of the appointed members of the cabinet.
Nevertheless, Minister of Health Ibrahim Ameen’s case was scrutinised by the ACC before sending the case to the Prosecutor General’s office. The Prosecutor General’s office, however, has not found a problem regarding Ameen’s case thus sending it back to ACC.
Nine members voted in the committee that signed the formal approval of Waheed, Athifa, Attorney General Ibrahim Riffath and other ministers’ appointment to the cabinet. The approval of the Parliament, however, is required to grant the appointments of the cabinet ministers.