Official accused of corruption nominated to human rights watchdog

President Abdulla Yameen has nominated to the human rights watchdog an official accused of defrauding the state of MVR24million (US$1.55million) in 2009 and 2011.

Moosa Ali Kaleyfaanu’s name was submitted to the parliament today and was accepted for evaluation.

He is among eight senior National Disaster Management Center (NDMC) employees implicated in the case.

The transactions involving fake credit purchase order forms were first flagged in a 2012 audit report. The police and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) completed investigations in 2013 and forwarded charges to the Prosecutor General’s Office for prosecution.

Charges have not been filed at the Criminal Court yet.

Very few cases of corruption are prosecuted in the Maldives.

All five incumbent members of the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) are to be replaced as their term expires in late August.

In addition to Ali, President Yameen has proposed Naiveen Abdulla as a nominee today.

The parliament’s committee on independent institutions oversight will evaluate the nominees and put their names to a vote on the People’s Majlis floor.

The committee has already vetted and approved three nominees proposed in June. They include Shifaq Mufeed, a former MP of the ruling party and Aishath Afreen Mohamed, the wife of current ruling party MP Hussain Mohamed Latheef.

All five of the president’s nominations are expected to pass as the ruling Progressive Party of the Maldives and its ally the Maldives Development Alliance control 48 seats of the 85-member house.

The Supreme Court in June imposed a legally binding 11-point guideline on the HRCM, after declaring a report submitted to the UN Human Rights Council as unlawful. Critics say the guideline has rendered the watchdog toothless.