Nimal, 3 others to be charged over dollar issue

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has requested former Managing Director of Fenbaka Corporation, Mohamed Nimal and three others to be charged for the illegal purchase of US dollars to the corporation.

The three other people the ACC has requested for prosecution are former Deputy Director, Chief Technical Officer and Director at Fenaka Corporation.

ACC said its investigation uncovered Fenaka spent MVR 17.8 million in advance to purchase USD 1.1 million from a private company upon three occasions. It said the payment vouchers and cheques were signed by the corporation’s Deputy Director, Chief Technical Officer and Director.

The three officials had not checked whether the private company from which they purchased the dollars were authorized to sell dollars or had the financial capacity to sell the dollars before they gave their approval, said ACC.

ACC also said it was Nimal who ordered the Finance Department of Fenaka to conduct the transaction.

ACC said documents showed Fenaka, in 2016, made multiple attempts to purchase dollars through Ministry of Finance, but that Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) was unable to arrange the amount Fenaka wanted. But that the illegal purchases of dollars were made between April to November of 2016 – during which period Fenaka sent no letter to Ministry of Finance requesting dollars.

The commission said the private company to which Fenaka paid the MVR 17.8 million gained undue profit from the transaction, an act of corruption according to law.

ACC has requested that Nimal and the three other officials be charged under Article 12 (a) of Anti-Corruption Act – using influence of position to facilitate undue profit.

The commission also noted that Fenaka used a dated cheque with a seal of guarantee by the Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) as payment for the dollars it purchased. And that MCB said the seal was not used for bank guarantee, but for internal use.

ACC said the commission suspected the seal was obtained illegally, and has requested the police to investigate the case.