American PR firm complained over delayed payment in email to Maldives president
Leaked emails show the Maldivian public was billed a total of US$221,826 for three months of work in 2012 by PR firm Ruder Finn. The lobbyists later sent an email to then-president Waheed complaining over a seven-month delay in receiving payment, The Maldives Independent can reveal.
10 Mar 2016, 9:00 AM
American public relations firm, Ruder Finn, sent former President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan an email in February 2013, complaining over a seven-month delay in payment, according to emails obtained exclusively by The Maldives Independent.
Ruder Finn was hired by Waheed’s administration to improve the Maldives’ international image in the wake of the ouster of the country’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Nasheed.
The Maldives Marketing and Public Relations, a state-owned company at the center of a historic corruption scandal, was billed a total of US$221,826.29 for just three months of work.
One press release of just 400 words cost the Maldivian public some US$4,505.90, the emails show.
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