ACC: Theft allegation ‘lies’; Thinadhoo council uncooperative in probe

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) condemned the Thinadhoo City Council on Monday, after the latter reported that the office was “looted” following what the commission said was a search for documents in an ongoing investigation.

The Thinadhoo City Council, in a post on its official Facebook account on Monday morning, said that “a large quantity of the Thinadhoo City Council’s assets has been stolen by a group of people who came here claiming to be from the ACC.”

In a statement in response, the ACC said that its investigators had operated inside the council office in search of documents it needed for an ongoing investigation on Sunday.

The commission said that the council wasn’t fully cooperating with the investigation, and that the commission had acted within the confines of law in confiscating documents.

“The information released by the council regarding this is false,” said the ACC.

The commission said it finds the spread of such baseless lies “unacceptable.”

The police confirmed receiving a report on Monday regarding a suspected case of theft at the council, but found no evidence to support the claim.

“Based on the findings so far, it is unlikely that such an incident happened,” said the police.

Thinadhoo City’s mayor Saud Ali claims the council had been cooperating with the ACC in its investigation.

He told Sun that that three individuals claiming to be from the ACC came to the council to clarify some information despite the council having notified the commission in writing that they would provide the information at 02:30 pm the next day.

He alleged that they had deliberately picked a time when he was out of the city.

Saud said that the trio had “fled with stolen documents”, and accused North Thinadhoo MP Saudhulla Hilmy of being behind it.

“We also informed the police to expel the three individuals from the office. But they remained at the office and then fled after looting the office once the employees had left,” he said.

Saud said that the incident has resulted in disruption of the council’s services.

The police confirmed receiving a report on Monday regarding a suspected case of theft at the council.

“Based on the findings so far, it is unlikely that such an incident happened,” said the police, adding that they were looking into it.

While the ACC did not provide any details regarding their investigation, the commission recently received a complaint against Saud for alleged corruption in the award of a contract to build a monument at the city’s harbor.