Tag: corruption

ACC cannot terminate Nexbis agreement, court rules

The Civil Court has ruled that the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) does not have the legal authority to order the Department of Immigration and Emigration to terminate the border control system contracted to Malaysia’s Nexbis Limited in November 2010.

ACC filed a court case against the Rf500 million (US$39 million) Nexbis system in November 2011, two days after cabinet decided to resume the project.

The cabinet’s decision contradicted ACC’s earlier command to terminate the existing agreement with Nexbis and re-tender the project with the cabinet’s consent.

In December, the ACC forwarded a corruption cases against former Immigraiton Controller Ilyas Hussain Ibrahim and Director General of Finance Ministry, Saamee Ageel to the Prosecutor General’s Office (PG), claiming the pair had abused their authority for undue financial gain in awarding the Nexbis project.

However, in Sunday’s hearing Judge Ali Rasheed ruled that the ACC Act clearly allows the commission to investigate corruption cases, but does not give ACC legal authority to issue an order which can annul a formal agreement signed between one or more parties.

He asserted that it is “unfair” to the contractors if ACC can annul an agreement without the contractors’ say, adding that such a decision violates the protection granted to the contractors under the Maldives Law of Contract.

Following the court’s ruling, Immigration Controller Abdulla Shahid told Minivan News that the ruling is subjected to the ACC and it does not directly relate to the department.

He noted that it is too soon to say how the department will proceed with the project.

“We have not even received the documents. We will look into the matter legally,” Shahid said, adding that the court’s decision does not does indicate whether the agreement with Nexbis is “good”.

The 20-year Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) agreement with the Malaysian-based mobile security solutions provider was to upgrade border security in the Maldives with new technology including facial recognition and fingerprint identification, facilitating the identification and tracking of expatriate workers and eliminating the opportunity to people to enter the country with forged paper documents.

The Maldives currently receives three times its population of 350,000 in tourist arrivals each year. It has lately begun addressing a rise in human trafficking.

The day after the October 2010 signing of the concessionaire contract, ACC announced it had received “a serious complaint” regarding “technical details” of the bid, and issued an injunction pending an investigation into the agreement citing “instances and opportunities” where corruption may have occurred.

After the investigation, the commission deemed the procedure of awarding the project to Nexbis was corrupt, and ordered the Immigration department to terminate the project.

Nexbis shares immediately plunged 6.3 percent on the back of the ACC’s announcement. The company subsequently issued a statement claiming that speculation over corruption was “politically motivated” and had “wrought irreparable damage to Nexbis’ reputation and brand name.”

“Nexbis’ shareholders own and manage multi-trillion dollar assets globally and will not jeopardise their reputation for an investment return,” the company said at the time.

Claiming financial loss Nexbis subsequently threatened legal action over the stalled border agreement, prompting the cabinet to resume the project after reviewing the existing agreement with Nexbis to address the concerns raised by the department.

In earlier interviews with Minivan News, Shahid had expressed concern over both the cost and necessity of the project, calculating that as tourist arrivals continue to grow Nexbis would earn US$200 million in revenue over the project’s 20-year lifespan.

Comparatively, at five percent royalties to the government would come to US$10 million, Shahid said, when there was little reason for the government not be earning the revenue itself by operating a system given by a donor country.

“Border control is not something we are unable to comprehend – it is a normal thing all over the world,” Shahid told Minivan News at the time.“There is no stated cost of the equipment Nexbis is installing – we don’t know how much it is costing to install, only how much we have to pay. We need to get everything out in the open.”

The agreement allows Nexbis to levy a fee of Rf30 (US$2) from arriving and departing passengers in exchange for installing, maintaining and upgrading its immigration system. The company would also charge a Rf231 (US$15) for every work permit card.

Shahid estimates that maintaining a free system given by a donor country would cost at most several hundred thousand dollars a year, and said he was unsure as to why such an agreement had ever been signed.

However, Nexbis said in a statement that neither the government nor the Maldivian public have to pay in exchange for a state-of-the-art border security protection and suggested that “reasonable persons will likely realise that once the hidden costs after are taken into account and adjusted for inflation, the benefits and efficiencies of the Nexbis system will far outweigh the risk, inadequacies and uncertainties of any such alleged cheaper system.”

Nexbis also said it had agreed to review the government’s additional requirements, “and have expressed our willingness to accommodate any such changes within commercially viable terms.”

“While this requires some changes to the solution we ultimately provide, it is within the scope of our agreement to accommodate these changes,” the company said.

Meanwhile, yesterday’s court’s ruling set a precedent on the question raised by some legal experts on whether ACC has the authority to halt or terminate a government project agreement.

Civil court is hearing a similar case against the ACC by Thilafushi Corporation Limited (TCL), which contested the legality of ACC’s decision to halt the US$21 million reclamation project awarded to Heavy Load Maldives, owned by MDP Chairperson Reeko Moosa Manik, on suspicion of corruption.

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Court ends hearing on Thilafushi reclamation case

The Civil Court has concluded hearings over the Thilafushi development project, which was awarded to Heavy Load Maldives by Thilafushi Corporation Limited (TCL).

Heavy Load is owned by ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Moosa ‘Reeko’ Manik.

The ACC had previously noted the US$21 million project was not awarded with the advice of the TCL board and was in violation of the government-owned company’s operating procedures.

TCL’s lawyer Mazlan Rasheed claimed that the ACC had ordered TCL to stop the project without carrying out any investigation, Haveeru reports.

Rasheed further claimed that the ACC violated legal requirements by not issuing a formal report.

ACC’s lawyer and the former attorney general Aishath Azima Shakoor countered that TCL disobeyed the ACC’s order and continued with the project.

Shakoor added that the ACC had issued its order after finding evidence that TCL had violated the law in 10 separate counts when awarding the project to Heavy Load, therefore the ACC had been within its rights to issue the order.

Judge Abdulla Ali presided over the case. The final verdict will be released during the next court session, reports Haveeru.

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Public finds Parliament “most corrupt” institution: Transparency International

A new report published by Transparency International finds that 90 percent of surveyed Maldivians believe that “corruption has increased” or remained level in the last three years, while they dubbed the parliament as the “most corrupt” institution.

The “Daily Lives and Corruption: Public Opinion in Maldives” report surveyed 1001 people in the Maldives between April 23 and April 29 of 2011 to capture public perception of corruption in the country. The survey was conducted by Gallup Pakistan of Gallup International, a leading polling service.

The report revealed that over half of the people interviewed (56 percent) believe the level of corruption in Maldives has increased over the past three years, while another 34 percent believed it remained the same. Only ten percent said corruption levels declined.

When people were asked to rate the extent of corruption in nine different institutions on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 meaning “not at all corrupt” and 5 meaning “extremely corrupt”, 55.9 percent of responders claimed 77 seat People’s Majilis (Parliament) is “extremely corrupt” – suggesting that the public perceive the elected legislative body as among the most corrupt institutions in the country.

Meanwhile, 55.4 percent of respondents viewed political parties as “extremely corrupt”. The judiciary received a similar ranking from 39.4 percent of individuals polled.

Military and religious groups were considered the least corrupt institutions.

In addition to measuring public perception, the report also evaluated the prevalence of bribes in the civil sector. According to its findings, six percent of responders claimed to have paid a bribe to one of the nine service providers over the past 12 months. The most bribes were paid to Customs, while the fewest were paid to the Police.

Bribes were reportedly paid to either accelerate procedures or minimise conflicts at institutions which provide land services, registry and permit services, utilities, education, and medical services.

Transparency officials point out that although the government or executive was not classified as an individual institution at the time of polling, the services for which people paid bribes are government components.

Most bribes were paid by men (8 percent) with women paying fewer than half that amount (3 percent). All bribes were paid by people of low income, the report reveals.

Speaking at the report release ceremony held on Thursday at Traders, Senior Program Coordinator at Transparency International Rukshana Neenayakkara pointed out that it is significant that 90 percent of Maldivians believe that the presence of corruption has increased or remained unchanged over the past three years.

Referring to the high perception of corruption within the parliament and judiciary, Neenayakkara said the figures reflect a “dismal drastic situation” of grand corruption in Maldives, which can create a “worse situation” in the coming years. “So we need action now”, he asserted.

According to Neenayakkara petty corruption is uncommon in Maldives though it is endemic in other  South Asian countries which were similarly surveyed.

Project Coordinator for Transparency Maldives Aiman Rasheed explained that “grand corruption” which spread across the judiciary, parliament and members of the executive is “more dangerous” compared to the petty cash corruption, and stressed on the need to address the problem through systematic change.

Faced with such endemic and high-level corruption, it is “up to the people of the Maldives to demand better governance”, he insisted.

The Maldives rose slightly to rank 134 in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI), released in December 2011.

The country scored 2.5 on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 10 (very clean), placing it alongside Lebanon, Pakistan and Sierra Leone.

The score however is a mild improvement on 2010, when the Maldives was ranked 143th and below Zimbabwe. The Maldives still rated as having higher perceived corruption than many regional neighbours, including Sri Lanka (86), Bangladesh (120) and India (95).

Speaking with Minivan News in December, Rasheed said it was “up to the people of the Maldives to demand better governance”, and noted that the nation’s ability to address corruption would have political ramifications for the 2013 presidential election, particularly for young voters.

The “Daily Lives of Corruption” report concludes that 93 percent of Maldivians think that “ordinary people can make difference in the fight against corruption”.

Other countries surveyed were Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan.

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ACC files against Home Ministry over office partitions

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed a corruption case with the Prosecutor General’s (PG) Office on Tuesday against certain members of the Home Ministry’s Tender Evaluation Board.

The case accuses members of engaging in “unlawful practices” while evaluating bids to set up partitions in the ministry’s office, located on the tenth floor of the Velaanage office complex.

The case accuses State Home Minister Mohamed Mahir Easa, Maimoona Ahmed of Henveiru Mahaasa, Hamid Yousuf of Zeelithan/Raa atoll Hulhudhuffaru, Ahmed Shareef Nafees of Dhaftharu 1119, Ahmed Ishaq of Galolhu Cherry, Hussein Rasheed Yousuf of Dhaftharu 2065 and Mohamed Adam of Machangoalhi Maanika, Haveeru reports.

According to the ACC, marks were given for experience not conforming with the criteria stated in the information leaflet for setting up partitions, Haveeru reports.

The case has been filed under Article 12(a) of the Anti-Corruption Act.

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Former Post Limited MD faces corruption charges

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has requested the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) to prosecute former Managing Director of the Maldives Post Limited (MPL), Mahudy Imad, for alleged abuse of authority.

In a press statement today, the ACC said it forwarded the case to the PGO on December 28 after completing an investigation into a complaint accusing Mahudy of using his influence to send an employee overseas for a law degree.

The complainant had alleged that funds were not allocated in the MPL budget for the course and that other employees were not invited to apply for it.

In its inquiry, the ACC found that Mahudy had abuse his authority to secure the course for the employee, who had reportedly been working at MPL as an administrative staff for less than a year before leaving to Malaysia for the course.

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Elections Commission audit report reveals “irresponsible” spending

Elections Commission of Maldives (EC)’s 2010 audit report has revealed that commission members “irresponsibly” used state funds to cover lavish medical insurance, buy ipads and expensive mobile phones while failing to maintain office records and recover money withdrawn from the budget by political parties.

Between 2008 and 2010 EC members and their dependents “irresponsibly” chose the “most expensive” medical insurance scheme available from Allied Insurance at Rf.35,000 per person, raising the level of insurance paid through the budget to Rf1.1 million (US$70,500).

According to the report made public on Thursday, the five EC members illegally withdrew allowances from the commission’s budget to pay a their mobile phone bills, totalling Rf74,155 (US$4,809).

Members of both the Civil Service Commission and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) committed this violation, wrote Auditor General (AG) Niyaz Ibrahim in the respective audit reports.

The AG steadily notes that the salary and benefits of independent commission members are determined by the People’s Majlis (parliament), and that benefits do not cover phone allowances.

An additional Rf81,861 (US$5,308) was spent on the phone allowances of EC staff, which the AG reports was spent without the Finance Ministry’s approval.

The commission has also spent a total of Rf248, 790 (US$16,134) to buy mobile phones over the past three years, while the AG notes that the chosen models were the “most expensive” ones available in the market at the time.

While some phones are now missing, others have been gifted to staff despite the laws prohibiting the gifting of any state property or item to staff, the AG observed. He recommended that the phone costs be recovered from the staff members concerned.

EC staff also received a total of Rf971,807 (US$63,022) as overtime pay, although there was no record to confirm their work.

The report further reveals that EC members bought five ipads worth Rf 77,500 (US$5,025) in September 2011, after neglecting the AG office’s advice to the contrary.

The commission had previously been asked to use the existing 97 laptops and 250 netbooks, of which some were inexplicably lost.

AG noted the laptops were bought in violation of public finance regulation during the 2008 elections, a case now forwarded by ACC to the Prosecutor General Office.

The report also highlighted inefficiencies in the current mechanism for allocating funds to political parties, a task mandated to the EC.

AG Ibrahim explained that the existing policy to distribute 60 percent of the total funds based on the number of party members, and 40 percent equally among the existing parties, provides an “opportunity to misuse state funds”.

According to him, several parties have gained additional money by manipulating the number of party members, a concern often raised by the Elections Commission.

AG added that it is “financial fraud” and urged to take legal action against the responsible parties, while recommending that the fund distribution mechanism be revised.

He also highlighted that among the existing 15 political parties, several do not have the requisite 3,000 registered members while others are politically inactive.

Therefore, he recommends to stop funding parties with membership below 3,000. According to report statistics, nine existing parties would not qualify.

Since the state budget is a deficit budget, AG also recommends that funds allocated for political parties be determined by state income instead of the total state budget.

Currently, 0.1- 0.2 percent of state budget must be allocated to political parties.

In the past five years the commission has fined seven political parties up to Rf435, 000 (US$28,210) for not submitting the annual financial report on time. However, AG notes that 60 percent of that sum has not yet been collected.

AG also concluded that the EC’s financial statements for the past year do not show the “commission’s financial status accurately and honestly”.

The AG concluded that Rf11.4 million (US$740496) was allegedly distributed to atoll offices during the 2011 elections by the EC as an “expense in the financial statement”, however it has “not been spent in real” and some money still remains in island bank accounts.

Of the Rf75.2 million (US$4.9 million) released as an annual budget to the EC in 2010, the report found that only Rf52.3 million was recorded as spent.

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Audit finds CSC members splurged 50 percent over budget on trips

Civil Service Commission (CSC) members paid their mobile phone bills out of the commission’s budget illegally, according to the CSC audit report for 2010.

In the report published on Tuesday, Auditor General Ibrahim Niyaz noted that under the article 20 of Civil Service Commission (CSC) Act, the salary and benefits of the five commission members must be determined by the People’s Majlis (parliament).

However, he revealed that the members phone bills were paid in 2010 without parliament’s approval and in violation of the CSC Act.

Therefore, the amount paid for phone bills must be reimbursed the to the state’s consolidated revenue account, the Auditor General told the commission members. The report does not specify the total amount spent on phone bills.

According to the report, CSC members refuted the AG’s conclusion, claiming that phone, computers and such items were considered as “facilities” rather than benefits.

“Since facilities are not determined by the parliament, the CSC decided these things according to the CSC Act and Public Finance Act,” members said.

They also told the auditors that the phone bill issue was clarified by the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) and parliament, adding that “none of the institutions stated it was illegal”.

The Attorney General had previously concluded that mobile phone bills of ACC members was also paid out of the commission’s budget illegally during 2010.

Meanwhile in the CSC audit report it was found that the commissions trips were not recorded properly and filed within three working days of the end of the trip as stipulated by clause 5.13 of the public financial regulations.

In addition, the audit report noted that two CSC members who visited the “Meeting of the Chiefs of Public Service Commissions of SAARC member countries” in November 2010 in India received trip allowance from the commission budget – even though it was a fully sponsored trip by the organisers. Therefore, the AG requested the members to reimburse the trip allowance as well.

Another member who went on a seven-day study tour trip was asked to reimburse US$888 out of the total allowance, as the member returned four days early.

The Auditor General recommended the commission to reacquire unused funds left over from the trips as stipulated in section 1.01 of state financial regulations.

Out of the Rf24.5 million (US$1.6 million) annual budget released to the CSC in 2010, the report noted that Rf549, 816 (US$35,656) was spent on trips – which was almost 50 percent over the budget allocated for such trips.

According to the CSC financial statement, 95 percent of the trip budget was spent on overseas trips.

More than Rf11.9 million (US$773,581) was meanwhile spent on salary and benefits of staff.

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Government to monitor corruption allegations, file defamation suits

Cabinet has instructed the Attorney General’s Office to monitor allegations of corruption made against the government, and file defamation lawsuits where such allegations are proven unfounded.

Defamation was decriminalised in the Maldives in 2009, and now carries a maximum penalty of Rf 5000 (US$325). That same year the Maldives jumped 53 places in Reporters Without Borders’ press freedom index and was upgraded by Freedom House from ‘not free’ to ‘partially free’.

Cabinet’s move comes on the back of growing concern that some such allegations are being made for political purposes, and that fear of their share prices being damaged by the Maldives’ byzantine local political agendas may be a factor discouraging potential foreign investors.

Minister for Economic Development Mahmoud Razee told Minivan News that Cabinet’s intention was to review allegations of corruption against the government, and refer them to police for investigation where justified.

He said the intention was not to take on the duties of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), as “in many cases these are allegations that never reach the ACC.”

The primary objective was to show that the government was taking corruption allegations seriously in the wake of Transparency’s 2011 Corruption Perception Index (CPI), Razee said.

The Maldives rose slightly to rank 134 this year, scoring 2.5 on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 10 (very clean), placing it alongside Lebanon, Pakistan and Sierra Leone.
Transparency Maldives’ Project Director Aiman Rasheed observed at the time that there was a “systemic failure to address corruption” in the country.

“Corruption in the Maldives is grand corruption, unlike neighbouring countries where much of it is petty corruption,” Rasheed said. “In the Maldives there is corruption across the judiciary, parliament and members of the executive, all of it interlinked, and a systemic failure of the systems in place to address this. That why we score so low.”

Razee acknowledged the need for the government to address the corruption index, but emphasised that it did not reflect the actual level of corruption but only its perception – “reflected in our transparency, the availability of information, and right to information.”

Monitoring accusations and investigating or filing defamation cases where justified should show that the government was taking the problem seriously, he suggested, “and show we stick to our principles.”

Allegations of corruption and fractious local politics this year impacted several foreign investors, including mobile security solutions vendor Nexbis and airport developer GMR.

Nexbis shares immediately dropped 6.3 percent on the back of an ACC’s announcement in January that the project was to be suspended after it observed “opportunities for corruption”.

Nexbis issued a statement at the time claiming that speculation over corruption was “politically motivated” in nature and had “wrought irreparable damage to Nexbis’ reputation and brand name.”

“Although we understand that the recent media frenzy and speculation of corruption are politically motivated in nature and not directly related to Nexbis, it has had an indirect impact on our reputation and brand name,” the company said.

The ACC has since forwarded corruption cases against former Immigration Controller Ilyas Hussain Ibrahim and Director General of Finance Ministry, Saamee Ageel to the Prosecutor General’s Office (PG), alleging the pair had abused their authority for undue financial gain in granting the project to Nexbis.

On Thursday last week GMR shares on the Mumbai stock exchange fell 7.57 percent on the back of a Civil Court ruling against the company’s proposed US$25 Airport Development Charge (ADC), included in the concession agreement signed with the government. The suit was filed by the opposition-aligned Dhivehi Quamee Party (DQP).

Razee acknowledged that while political parties were obliged to behave in a professional manner, given the tumultuous political environment “Yes there is a possibility that [corruption allegations] will be used for political purposes.”

Razee noted that investors sometimes struggled to raise finance in Maldives as it was not a weighted country, and faced potential difficulties “if a contract turns sour”, due to the lack of arbitration. Both problems were highlighted in World Bank assessments, he said, but added that the government had a bill pending for a proposed Mercantile Court, staffed by foreign judges with a separate seal and special jurisdiction to solve disputes involving business transactions.

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Border loopholes benefit human traffickers: Immigration Controller

“If one country has a loophole, all countries suffer,” said Immigration Controller Abdulla Shahid, referring to the Maldives’ lack of a border control system amidst rising concerns over human trafficking. “The present border control system is only helping human traffickers.”

Authorities have reported a daily increase in human trafficking to the Maldives, particularly in the case of expatriate workers. The industry has a calculated value of US$123 million, making it the second largest contributor of foreign currency.

“This is a serious issue, there are about 40,000 illegal workers in the Maldives right now,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Naseem. “A border control system would be useful, especially in the future for maintenance. But there is a lot to do within the country as well, and we are currently trying to address these matters.”

The Maldives currently uses an eight year-old, outdated border control system. Plans to upgrade to a modern system have been delayed for over a year on allegations of corruption.

In November 2010, the government approved a Rf500 million (US$39 million) Border Control System by Malaysia’s Nexbis Limited, proposed by the Department of Immigration and Emigration.

Shortly thereafter, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) requested that the agreement be halted due to “a serious public complaint” alleging corrupt dealings. The President upheld the ACC’s request in January 2011, by in May the Cabinet approved the program.

The ACC subsequently renewed its concerns and filed a case at the Civil Court and submitted a report to the Prosecutor General’s (PG) office earlier this month. The report accuses Former Controller Ilyas Hussain Ibrahim and Director General of Finance Ministry, Saamee Aqeel, then head of the Tender Board, for allegedly abusing their authority for undue financial gain.

Nexbis threatened legal action over the delay, citing millions of dollars in losses over equipment already imported to the Maldives. Shahid noted that the equipment is still sitting in Customs.

Immigration matters

Shahid said the public misconception that Immigration is a mundane department doing no-brainer tasks has led to a general misunderstanding of need for a border control system.

“Immigration personnel have to be trained to detect forgery, to profile passengers–we recently had courses for officers on how to detect physical alterations like makeup.

“In general, the public is not aware of the system’s value. It is to everyone’s benefit, even distant countries, to have a strong border control system in the Maldives. Terrorism and human trafficking involve other countries and their borders. If we have good communication, starting at Immigration, and a system, then we have good results.”

Currently a passport check requires an individual to manually scan hundreds of photographs, Shahid said. Without the key components of a modern system – facial recognition, finger-print identification technology, and eye scans – “people who were deported on criminal violations can re-enter the country. If they have a new or fake passport, we rarely detect them with our current system,” Shahid explained.

“A passport is just a piece of paper nowadays. The modern system, with the recognition technology, is almost a 100 percent guarantee of proper identification,” he added.

Nearby Sri Lanka, Thailand and Malaysia have been using modern systems for years.

“I think the proof is strong enough”

Shahid believes that cases against Ibrahim and Aqeel will be difficult to ignore in a court of law.

When the Nexbis system was first considered, a proposal was sent by Immigration to the National Planning Council. According to Shahid’s review of the documents, the final contract drafted deviated significantly from the initial proposal.

“The proposed system could be implemented in six months for US$4-5 million, with the company charging a further US$150-200 thousand per year for maintenance,” he asserted.

“According to this, the Maldives would pay US$8 million in the first year to Nexbis. Over 20 years that would be US$4 million paid annually. That’s fair. But right now the Nexbis plan is one-third of the budget.”

Taxes are also a consideration, particularly given the high numbers of foreigners and expatriates traveling through the Maldives.

“In 2011 we are reaching 1 million foreign arrivals. If we charge US$2 for arrival and US$2 for departure, that’s US$4 per person. Annually, the government would collect US$4 million for Nexbis. It would break even.”

Nexbis proposed these charges as part of its 20-year contract with the government in 2010.

“This means that neither the government nor the Maldivian public have to pay in exchange for a state-of-the-art border security protection,” Nexbis earlier claimed.

Shahid also noted that GMR is expanding Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) to accommodate 3 million arrivals annually, indicating that revenue will increase.

Nexbis also planned to levy a US$15 fee for expatriate identification cards. With the current 100,000 registered expatriates, Shahid said, the company receives US$1.5 million annually from expatriate cards alone.

“Nexbis will get US$27.5 million in 2025, according to the current statistics,” he said. Calculating for a gradual increase of arrivals over the next 20 years, “the generated revenue could build an airport of GMR’s standards and implement an up-to-date border control system.”

According to Shahid’s calculations, the approximate cost in the first year of installment and operation (US$8 million) of a Nexbis-quality border control system is far lower than the cost proposed in the final contract (US$39 million).

Shahid earlier estimated that maintaining a free system given by a donor country would cost at most several hundred thousand dollars a year, and said he was unsure as to why such an agreement had ever been signed.

“I don’t know much about the details of the ACC’s report,” he concluded. “Since I saw the contract for the Nexbis system, my argument has always been that the amount charged is ridiculous. It should not be done and must be halted. It is wrong.”

Ilyas Hussain Ibrahim declined to comment on the grounds that the issue was “politically risky.”

The Nexbis case is currently the largest corruption case before the courts and PG, the ACC confirmed. While corruption charges are regularly issued in the Maldives, resolution at the PG level is not so common. Speaking to Minivan News on the occasion of International Anti-Corruption Day, ACC President Hassan Luthfee said that of the 16 cases filed with the PG this year, zero have been addressed.

Vice President Muaviz Rasheed today said the ACC had received no information from the PG, but was hoping for the Civil Court’s ruling by the end of this month.

“The Civil Court has not been cooperative with the ACC on all counts, however the hearings ended in late November and we expect a ruling within the month,” Muaviz said.

Banana republic?

Although Shahid is confident in the court, he is unsure when the Maldives will take actual steps towards updating its border control system.

Without local capacity and expertise to produce a state-of-the-art border control system, the Maldives would turn again to the international market. Shahid said there are many options: “we could go anywhere, we could even get it as foreign aid.”

But after the dealing with Nexbis, withstanding international scrutiny could be difficult.

“Nexbis sees the Maldives as a banana republic that it can squeeze money out of,” Shahid observed.

With a score of 2.5 on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index and ranking 134th out of 185 countries, the Maldives may not be so inviting to foreign investors.

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