ACC President: Questions arose when 66 boxes regarding illicit oil trade were filed

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) President Mariyam Shiuna has said that questions arose when the ACC filed 66 document boxes sent by the Attorney General’s Office related to the “Illicit Oil Trade” case involving STO’s Singaporean company with USD 800 million.

The investigation into the case was commenced in 2011 after a complaint regarding the Singaporean company was lodged. The ACC said in 2018, that the case was to be filed for lack of evidence leading to a conclusion.

“Attorney General’s Office set 66 boxes of documents to us. So, we decided based on the investigative report that we did not have enough information to proceed with the case and to file it.”

“I also had questions based on the report that when we had 66 boxes of documents, that the matter was written off so simply in the investigative report.” Said Shiuna the current ACC President, speaking on a program of PSM.

The ACC was now reviewing the matter and had not yet decided on how to proceed. Shiuna said that a decision on whether to investigate the case would be announced soon. 

The Parliament was also presented with a complaint regarding the alleged cover-up of a report by former President Dr. Mohamed Waheed Hussain Manik. The report was formed by a foreign accounting company to find out the amount lost during business dealings made through STO involving oil during the administration of President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

Shiuna said that she knew the expectations of the public of the ACC were high, before saying that there were difficulties in reaching the expectations. She cited the low budget and lack of human resources were also a factor in this. 

The number of complaints received by the ACC had not reduced, said Shiuna. Last year was the year with the highest number of complaints, totaling 1,300 complaints.

“This is an increase of almost 50 percent when compared to 2018. The appointment of new numbers also increased complaints.” Said Shiuna.