Government will follow ACC

Minister of Home Affairs has said that the government will follow orders issued by Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) in relation to Immigration Department’s $39m border control system issue.

Home Minister Dr Mohamed Jameel said at a press conference held at Home Ministry today that neither the government nor any other institution should refuse any order issued by ACC, and that Home Ministry has cooperated with ACC in every case in the past.

“We follow all of ACC’s orders. The government’s policy is to take whatever action necessary to end corruption. The government’s policy is to follow ACC’s orders,” Jameel said.

He said that the Police have and will cooperate in every possible way with ACC, and that there are no limits to this cooperation.

“We had requested, in relation to the letter regarding the border control system issue, to halt the project as advised by the ACC,” Jameel said.

Despite this request, phase two of the project had been carried out. The court has also ordered to halt the project until a decision is made by the court.

Jameel said that since the case is now in court, the government’s policy is to halt the project until the case is cleared in court, and that the government will follow any ruling issued by the judicial system.

He also said that the Police acted in a timely manner in freeing the ACC officials who were trapped in Immigration Department’s Office, and that the Police have assisted ACC on several other occasions.

The $39b (Rf600m) border control system project had to be halted when ACC filed a case to court, indicating that several elements promised to be included during the bidding process were missing when the project was awarded to Nexbiz.

The issue got serious during former President Nasheed’s administration, leading to the removal of Immigration Controller Ilyas Hussain from his post.

President Waheed returned Ilyas Hussain to the post of Immigration Controller when he became President; however, further investigation into the case revealed an issue related to several laptops, prompting President Waheed to transfer Ilyas Hussain to Defence Ministry.