Legal action initiated against those who failed to return State-owed money

Ministry of Finance and Treasury has announced that authorities have initiated legal action against those among the seven former State officials who were ordered to return back money they had spent illegally from State funds – including former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed.

The ex-State officials ordered to return money are:

• Former Maldivian President, Mohamed Nasheed

• Former State Minister of Islamic Affairs, Al-Sheikh Hussain Rasheed Ahmed

• Former Minister of Home Affairs, current Male’ City Mayor Mohamed Shihab

• Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ahmed Naseem

• Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Ahmed Shaheed

• Former Commissioner General of Customs, Mohamed Aswaan

• Former Housing Minister, Mohamed Aslam

Of them, only Dr. Shaheed returned the money by the time the deadline ran out on September 1.

Media official for Ministry of Finance and Treasury spoke to “Sun” on Tuesday morning and said that none of the other former State officials had returned the money. And that authorities were preparing to launch legal action against them.

“Relevant authorities are making necessary arrangements to take action against those who failed to return the money,” said the official.

Ministry of Finance and Treasury has not yet revealed the specifics of the legal action that will be taken against them.

The new Minister of Finance and Treasury, Ahmed Munawwar had stated earlier that hat massive amount of State funds had been used incongruously, and that it was just the first step in the initiative by Ministry of Finance and Treasury to recover the money.