The Audit Report of Ministry of Islamic Affairs has revealed appropriation of state funds as salary of a staff who was never employed.
According to the audit report for the year 2018, the deceit involves a staff at the ministry embezzling USD 905 in addition to USD 4,020 taken as salary of a staff who was never employed. The reports also highlight cases of misappropriation of funds by using forged documents.
According to the report, although the ministry had an arrangement made with the staff to return the misappropriated funds within 8 months from December 2018, the funds were never paid back to the ministry. The ministry escalated the issue further by reporting it to Ministry of Finance, Civil Service Commission (CSC) and Maldives Police Services (MPS) to investigate the matter further.
According to the report, in the agreement, the ministry did not include the 649 US dollars the staff collected as overtime allowance and holiday allowance by forging documents. The report said the ministry failed to make the inclusion in the agreement as it could not ensure the amounts that must be paid for works done.
The audit report also included misappropriation of funds from Zakat Fund to an Indian Court which had to be paid by a Maldivian man residing in India. According to the report, passports of a Maldivian family living in Trivandrum were retained by the court due to a matter under investigation.
Upon complaints from the family over delayed rulings, the court declared to release the passports on the condition the family pay USD 15,305 the family took from an Indian party as a loan. The family requested the administration several times to assist them.
In 2018, USD 16,391 US dollars was given to the family from Zakat Fund considering the situation. The report stated the ministry did not clarify the validity of the claim of the family and did not attain a letter from the government of India to verify the validity either and hence, it was unclear whether the payment had to be made to the Maldivian family.
Auditor General's Office recommended the ministry to attain all relevant documents and verify the validly and ensure the conditions of the party requesting assistance before amounts are paid from Zakat Fund.