The Road Development Corporation’s (RDC) Managing Director Brigadier General (Retired) Ali Zuhair said the company’s debt stood at MVR 837 million when the current management took over.
Zuhair made the remarks while speaking at the Maldives Parliament’s Committee on State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) meeting.
RDC’s management was summoned to the committee, where they were grilled about the company’s corruption and the new management’s measures to combat this.
Zuhair said the company’s new management inherited the debt. of which MVR 152 million has been paid to the owed parties with the government’s support. The current outstanding debt of the corporation is MVR 685 million, Zuhair added.
The RDC chief also noted that though foreign workers were recruited and flown into the company for various projects, they remained idle hands without any work. Zuhair also highlighted the above-market rental for vehicles leased from third-party companies. He said this increased the company’s expenditure, with MVR 15 million incurred per month to rent these vehicles alone.
RDC Deputy Managing Director Mohamed Asbaah briefed the parliament committee on the changes made to the company’s operations. He noted that the company’s financial transactions now require the approval of two more senior officials besides the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), a change that aims to reduce potential graft and corruption.
Asbaah further said that some of the RDC staff have been relocated to other departments owing to financial transactions made in violation of company policies, and assured that relevant action will be taken against these individuals.
RDC has been mired in serious corruption allegations, with ongoing investigations led by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). The Maldives Police Service, earlier on November 15, last year, raided RDC offices and project sites in Male’ City and seized a large number of documents.
Moosa Ali Manik, the former RDC Managing Director, faces the majority of the corruption allegations.