The Maldives Parliament’s Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim on Monday, April 14, has stated that a criminal investigation has been requested against Dubai-based Executors General Trading, over its alleged involvement in a corruption scandal.
The company was contracted by the Maldives government in 2020 amid the Covid-19 global pandemic, to procure ventilators to treat Covid-19 patients in critical conditions. The company however, never delivered the ventilators.
The Ministry of Health, under the previous state regime, entered into a MVR 34.50 million contract on April 2, 2020. The deal was to procure 75 ventilators during the pandemic.
Executors General Trading (EGT) delivered only 15 out of the contractually agreed 75 equipment, whereas the ministry had reportedly paid MVR 30.91 million, which made for 90% of the total payment, to the Dubai company as advance.
This advance reportedly was paid without obtaining an advance guarantee or a performance guarantee from EGT.
The Deputy Speaker, while speaking at the parliament’s Public Finance Committee meeting on Monday, criticized the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for its continued shortcomings in pressing charges against those implicated in the case. He also said the latest update received on the matter confirmed that the Prosecutor General’s Office had instructed the commission to pursue further investigation from a different angle.
Following this, a subsequent request had been made to Maldives Police Service to conduct a fraud investigation over the non-deliverance of the ventilators, despite the Maldives government making payment for it. Nazim said this payment cannot be recovered through civil litigation.
Earlier, the government had sought arbitration to recover the funds. The Maldives International Arbitration Center had previously instructed EGT to pay USD 2.1 million (MVR 34.5 million) to the Maldives government in the case in February 2024 along with interest payments and arbitration fees.
It was also decided that EGT must pay USD 1.8 million for the undelivered ventilators – subject to 2% interest per year till the payment is fully settled. The interested will be counted from May 2, 2021 onwards as per the ruling.
EGT has also been instructed to pay USD 223,750 in liquidated damages as well.