Five graft cases sent for prosecution in H1

The Maldives anti-corruption watchdog sent five cases for prosecution out of the 774 that were investigated during the first six months of this year.

According to statistics on the Anti-Corruption Commission website, 486 cases and 288 cases were investigated in the first and second quarters of 2018.

The ACC could not prove corruption in 285 cases that were investigated in the first quarter and only three cases were forwarded for prosecution.

Out of the 486 cases investigated in the second quarter, no corruption was found in 484 cases and only two were sent to the Prosecutor General’s office.

The cases sent for prosecution involve MVR130 million (USD$8.44 million), out of which MVR108 million must be recovered for the state.

The five cases represent 0.64 percent of the total cases investigated in 2018 by the ACC. Less than one percent of cases investigated in 2017 were sent for prosecution.

No one from the ACC was available for comment at the time of going to press, but its information officer Hassan Manik told the Maldives Independent in March that “only cases that can be regarded as corruption under the Anti-Corruption Act and articles in chapters 510 and 310 of the penal code” are sent for prosecution.

Transparency International says the Maldives has made little to no progress to combat corruption, falling 17 positions in country rankings.

Its local chapter Transparency Maldives (TM) said only one corruption-related case reached conviction between 2010 and 2014, despite 175 cases being submitted for prosecution by the ACC.

The NGO said the low conviction rate resulted from a lack of coordination between the ACC and the Prosecutor General’s office.