ACC raids POLCO office again amid ongoing corruption probe

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) raided the office of Police Corporative Society (POLCO) again on Wednesday, amid an ongoing investigation into corruption allegations against the company.

A spokesperson from the ACC told Sun that the commission searched the office on Wednesday under a court warrant “in connection to ongoing investigations.”

The latest raid follows one on February 3.

The Auditor General’s Office released its audit of the 2013 police housing project ‘Blues Housing Project’ run by POLCO on January 23.

The audit uncovered losses amounting to MVR 354.7 million due to POLCO’s “corruption and incompetence.”

The audit uncovered that the project – which should have cost MVR 745.3 million or MVR 859.9 million at the most based on average market price – cost over MVR 1 billion.

The audit found the project resulted in losses amounting to MVR 354.7 million due to “corruption and incompetence.”

The case is also under investigation by a subcommittee of the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee. During a meeting on Sunday, Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim, the chair of the subcommittee, said they haven’t been able to access all the documents related to the case.

Nazim said that the most important decision the committee must decide is what do with top police officials implicated in the case.

He said that it is imperative to decide whether they should be allowed to remain in their roles amid the investigation.

The Parliament has also received a letter from a police whistleblower highlighting more allegations of corruption linked to POLCO.

Commissioner of Police Ali Shujau previously said the police would submit all allegations of corruption to the ACC following a review of the audit report.

Meanwhile, Auditor General Hussain Niyazy has previously told the Parliament that the management of POLCO claimed to have lost many of the documents linked to the case due to an issue with the company’s server.