The Prosecutor General’s office has returned cases against former government ministers forwarded several weeks ago by former Auditor General Ibrahim Naeem.
Naeem claimed that former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, together with many of his cabinet ministers and several members of the current government, had failed to declare details of their financial assets as required by the Constitution.
Deputy Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem said the cases was returned to the Auditor General’s Office “because they were not investigated sufficiently.”
Shameem said they should have been “properly investigated” by the Auditor General’s Office before being sent to the PG’s Office.
“People who were named in this report were not asked to submit their forms,” Shameem said. “[In addition] they were not informed about the criminal charges. It is unfair they had to hear about it from the media.”
He said the PG’s Office believed “they should be given an opportunity” to declare their assets and to further investigate the claims.
He added that the cases have not been dropped by his office, and “if they are sent back, we will proceed.”
Assistant Executive Director and interim head of the Auditor General’s office Mohamed Hussein said he could not give any information about the case.
Press Secretary for the President’s Office Mohamed Zuhair said the former Auditor General “did not make up this case on his own or without collecting information. He would have sent these cases to the PG after working with a team.”
Zuhair said parliament’s no-confidence decision on Naeem did not mean that the whole Audit office was corrupt.
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