MVR 66M police bodycam contract draws Parliament scrutiny

An MVR 66 million contract to procure body-worn cameras for the police service back when it was headed by former Commissioner of Police Mohamed Hameed has drawn scrutiny from a parliamentary committee for possible corruption.

Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim, who chairs a sub-committee of the Public Accounts Committee involved in probing the police housing project, Blue Wave, said during a meeting on Tuesday that the committee has received information from a whistleblower regarding more corruption allegations involving senior police officials.

At the meeting, Nazim, the representative for Dhiggaru constituency and a senior figure within the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC), said that the MVR 66 million contract was awarded to a private company through single-source procurement.

The project was initially opened for a competitive bidding process, but the tender was later cancelled and it was awarded to a company through single-procumbent instead.

Nazim said that the cancellation of the original tender had drawn scrutiny at the time, but a subsequent investigation had cleared police officials of any wrongdoing.

But he suggested that it requires renewed scrutiny as Hameed had joined the company in question after retiring from the police force.

“He got employed at the company that supplied this after he retired. Therefore, this case involves him joining the company that got awarded the contract during his tenure and promoting these products,” said Nazim.

Nazim said it therefore needs further investigation by law enforcement agencies.

He said that though the transaction had previously been cleared of wrongdoing, what happened later suggests it involves professional misconduct or a moral issue.

Police rolled out bodycams in 2022.