Public Accounts Committee to review reports on COVID-19 corruption

The Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee is scheduled to review the compliance audit reports on COVID-19 related spending by the Tourism Ministry and Health Ministry.

The Auditor General’s Office released its compliance audit reports on COVID-19 related spending by the Tourism Ministry on Thursday, and by the Health Ministry this Sunday.

In a tweet on Sunday night, Public Accounts Committee’s chair, Kinbidhoo MP Mohamed Nashiz announced that the committee found some of the findings on the audit reports deeply concerning, and will be convening for a meeting on Monday to review the reports.

The compliance audits uncovered multiple issues, including that 99 percent of the COVID-19 spending by the Tourism Ministry was on areas outside of its mandate, and that a MVR 34 million contract awarded by the Health Ministry to Dubai-based Executors General Trading LLC for the supply of 75 ventilators wasn’t at the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO) as was previously claimed by officials, and that the Health Ministry did not obtain a performance guarantee, or an advance payment guarantee when it paid MVR 30.9 million (90 percent of the total payment) as an advance to the company.

The Auditor General has ordered an investigation into the award of the contract to Executors General Trading.