Bangladeshi recruiter goes to prison. Maldives Immigration officials he bribed keep their jobs.

On December 9, the criminal court convicted Shahaadath of bribery. The verdict came after the Bangladeshi man confessed to manipulating the quota system to bring unsuspecting migrant workers to the Maldives.

When police first disclosed details of the case in May, investigators had been unequivocal about Maldivian co-conspirators.

“We believe that officials of Maldives Immigration, along with several other Maldivians, worked with Shahaadhath Hussain to obtain financial benefits by securing quotas under different companies, recruiting foreign workers, bringing them into the country, and abandoning them on the streets under the guise of an ‘open visa’,” police told the press. 

The case against Shahaadath was forwarded for prosecution. Investigation into his alleged accomplices would proceed "separately," police said at the time. 

Shahaadhath was charged with bribery, money laundering, two counts of forgery, and operating a recruitment agency without a license. It took seven months for him to be tried and convicted. The criminal court’s verdict named the three Immigration officials as the alleged recipients of bribes. It detailed the amount of money paid and what the officials were asked to do in return.

All three officials remain in their positions. 

Shahaadhath held four different work permits since first coming to the Maldives in 2014, police said. According to the verdict, he operated an illegal “employment agency” to recruit foreign workers since October 2019, acting as an agent between local companies to obtain quotas. He used the the “Xpat” online portal – typically accessed by employers and recruitment agencies – to arrange work visas and obtain permits for several migrant workers.

When police confiscated Shahaadhath’s phone, investigators found 203 saved login credentials used to access the Xpat online system and work permit portal as well as eFaas, the Maldives national digital identity platform.  

Between October 2019 and October 2024, MVR 8,190,541 rolled through three Bank of Maldives accounts registered under Shahaadhath’s name. He faced charges of money laundering for circulating MVR 1.2 million between his personal accounts.

The forgery counts were raised for counterfeiting a "Deposit for New Work Permit" document to recruit two Bangladeshi workers for two companies. 

Shahaadhath was accused of befriending three separate Immigration officials and asking them to facilitate his illegal recruitment operations. Assistant Immigration Officer Abdulla Shahil (Mala, Baa Goidhoo) was paid MVR 12,600 between 2023 and 2024 to expedite applications. Deputy Chief Immigration Officer Hassan Suraish (Henveiru Fehibin, Malé) was paid MVR 28,000 in 2022. Immigration Officer Hussain Fayaz (Gulaabeege, Thaa Kinbidhoo) was asked to facilitate Shahaadhath’s recruitment business within immigration in exchange for recruiting foreign workers for the official's private businesses.

Asked about the conduct of the implicated officers, the Immigration department said all three employees remain in their posts pending the outcome of the police investigation. 

“We are a civil service body. We take disciplinary action when we are instructed [by the Civil Service Commission] following an inquiry.” Mohamed Shifan, head of the intelligence and legal affairs division, told the Maldives Independent.

“If it is a criminal complaint, an investigative body like police or the Anti-Corruption Commission will investigate it and we will be instructed [to take action] or Civil Service [Commission] will be instructed. That is how disciplinary action is taken administratively. So far, we have not been instructed to take any action with regard to this incident.”

Immigration lacks the legal authority to conduct its own inquiry in cases that involve criminal offences, he clarified.

“If it is a disciplinary issue, we will conduct an inquiry, but if it has a criminal element to it, we are required to inform ACC and police if it is a corruption issue, as well as the National Integrity Commission. We cannot conduct an inquiry on our own if it is such a case.”

Shifan confirmed the arrest of Immigration Officer Hussain Fayaz. He was later released but had not returned to work since then. Immigration has sought legal advice from the CSC on whether to take administration action, Shifan said. 

When the Maldives Independent asked about the case at a press conference last week, Homeland Security Minister Ali Ihusan declined to offer details.

"The investigation of the Immigration officials is ongoing and we will take action as and when needed. There are two ways to take administrative action against uniform officers. One way is internal inquiries and taking disciplinary action. The other way is for the National Integrity Commission to investigate it and take action," he explained.

"Cases like these will usually be referred to the NIC. If it is a criminal issue, police will investigate it and from the moment it is sent to the prosecutor general’s office, we will take the necessary action."

The police media official has not responded to questions regarding the status of the investigation at the time of publication. 

Twelve years after the Anti-Human Trafficking Act came into force, not a single Maldivian has been found guilty. 

Corruption within the Immigration Department, and alleged collusion between officials and illegal recruiters, has long been seen both by the public and oversight bodies as a persistent problem.

The US State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons report repeatedly identified the lack of accountability for government officials as a key and enduring concern. 

This year’s report reiterated concerns over the lack of progress in investigations initiated in 2019 against 22 labor recruitment agencies, “including several current or former Maldives Immigration officers, for collusion in allegedly manipulating the foreign worker recruitment quota system."

Within the past year, police closed investigations against two of these agencies. Investigations against the other 20 agencies remain pending. “Officials allegedly accepted bribes to overlook labour violations or dismiss cases, including potential labour violations involving construction companies," the report stated. 

According to Shifan, the legal affairs head, it was the Immigration department that first notified police of the cases noted in the report after suspecting foul play and “criminal elements” involving staff.

“We sent with all the available documents, and we worked for two, three years with police and the Anti-Corruption Commission to provide any documents they need and to provide all cooperation they need," Shifan said.

“In relation to those cases as well, we have not been asked to take action against any staff. We believe that is because the investigation has not been completed,” he added.

Asked about the incomplete cases dating back seven years, Home Minister Ihusan said some lacked evidence while investigations are ongoing in others.

“Some of those involve cases that allege that money was offered but there is no available evidence. We are talking about cases before 2019. So there are cases where it's difficult to prove, because it involves things people said as hearsay. But there are cases that have been completed by police and prosecuted as well," he said.

“We have shared the details of those cases through the Anti-TIP [Trafficking in Persons] office to the US State Department and other reviewing organisations. I believe that the next review period will take that into consideration."

The only other recent instance where immigration officers were charged with corruption was the high-profile extortion case that led to the ouster of former controller general Shamaan Waheed.

Together with the lack of progress on the 20 cases, Shahaadhath’s conviction on bribery while the officials he bribed keep their jobs appear to be symptoms of a system that shields any Maldivian official from accountability when it comes to addressing the “illegal migrant worker problem."

Nonetheless, both the Immigration controller and the homeland security minister say the current administration's efforts are succeeding in addressing issues associated with undocumented workers, including “system manipulation” and corruption.

New changes made to the work permit application system would help “maintain system integrity," Ihusan said,

“We have established a system that will allow the public and all our agencies to audit it. So now if someone was given an illegal work permit, we will be able to see who made the request, who approved the request and sometimes as a comment, it mentions who asked to approve it. So now we hold people accountable to that level now," he explained.

“I can say with certainty that now it is not possible to manipulate the system in the same way as before. And if someone tries, we will know immediately and take action."

Ihusan criticised the review process by “some international agencies” that he said did not properly reflect such efforts and reforms.  

Speaking to the Maldives Independent this week, Controller of Immigration Ahmed Faseeh, a retired police commissioner, expressed hope that new changes such as effective delivery of services and a new e-visa system could contribute to remedying structural flaws.

“If we adopt a good system, and give services to the people in a transparent, equitable and compassionate way, we would not be approached under the table. It is only when we are unable to give the service properly that we get approached under the table, either by design or because of the way the system is set up," he said.

The new electronic visa system would not require physical passports to be submitted for visa stampings, which could reduce instances of employers and recruitment agencies holding on to the passports of foreign workers, Faseeh suggested. Meanwhile, the improved passport issue services, which allows applicants to obtain a passport within 24 hours, will reduce “under the table” dealings, he said.

Since taking over in March, Faseeh said he had made it a priority to launch a proactive integrity campaign to try to “stop the finger being pointed” at Immigration.

“I also heard [about the corruption], as you can imagine from the outside, I had also heard about such problems...So when I joined here, my main aim was to get rid of the finger that was being pointed at this institution," he said.

“I specifically started an integrity campaign, putting up huge boards in the office, spreading awareness among staff, interacting with staff and empowering them to stay away from it and to increase supervision and training. I conducted a continuous three-month programme for middle management, that is also because I believed that you could change people’s philosophy and way of thinking by training them that way.”