Parliamentarian Abdulla Jabir submits a motion to the Parliamentary Government Oversight Committee to dismiss Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment Ahmed Mahloof.
In a letter to the committee, Parliamentarian Jabir said Minister Mahloof should not remain in his position as charges have been pressed against him over the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) corruption case. He called on the committee to begin work to dismiss Minister Mahloof immediately.
The Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) pressed charges against Mahloof after reviewing the charges submitted by Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) following its investigation. The charge sheet states Mahloof had received a bribe of USD 33,000 from the funds embezzled through MMPRC to vote in favour of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) bill in 2014 proposed by the then-administration when he was a parliamentarian. ACC stated Mahloof had arrived in the Maldives from Malaysia just in time for the sitting held on August 27, 2014, where he voted to pass the SEZ bill.
Furthermore, ACC stated the investigation had revealed a cheque for USD 33,000 had been deposited to Mahloof's account by SOF Private Limited, which had acted as the main distributor of the embezzled funds. ACC noted the text messages exchanged between Mahloof and then-Vice President Ahmed Adeeb, as well as the date when the cheque was deposited, confirms the funds received by Mahloof were bribes.
The PGO charged Mahloof under Article 2(a) of the Anti-Corruption Act, on counts of bribery following the review of the charges submitted by ACC.
The charges against Mahloof were forwarded by ACC to the PGO in June, following which Mahloof was suspended from his duties as the youth minister. However, the suspension was revoked after four months and Minister Mahloof returned to his duties on October 10.