Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has investigated a case alleging that the Ministry of Finance and Treasury had not taken proper action in recompensing the money that had been lent to individuals under the president’s special benefit scheme. The 2010 Audit Report claims that the negligence in recompensing the forenamed money has restricted the benefits receivable to the government.
ACC’s investigation reveals that the extension of the payback period by the President’s Office in 2008, for the loans issued from 1992, was not intended to provide an undue benefit for a third party, given that the conditions applied were similar for all the parties involved.
Documentary evidences suggest that the Ministry of finance and Treasury had appropriately dealt with any paper works relating to the loans issued by the President’s Office in the past. It was also found that the Ministry had retained the documents concerning the loans accordingly. The Ministry had also obtained legal assistance from the Attorney General’s office in order to prosecute the individuals who has defaulted on the payments.
Following a decision made by Economic and Youth Council in 2015, the President’s Office had established an amended procedure to recover the loans issued from its treasury. Since then, the Ministry had taken actions on rescheduling the loans and informing the concerned parties regarding the amended procedure.
Under the amended procedure, 18 contracts had been signed with the debtors of loans issued by the President’s Office. Evidences for this case also suggest that the Ministry had started taking action on recovering the loans by preparing the documents needed to be sent for prosecution.
The 2010 Audit Report indicates that 154 loans worth MVR51,402,714.00 were still owing to the government. Documentary evidences suggest that, up to 2015, payment for 97 loans were still owing to the government. The interest receivable for these loans had accounted up to MVR79,050,116.00 by 2015, out of which only 29,639,696.58 were paid to the government. However, the Ministry of Finance and Treasury had informed ACC that they had been trying to recompense MVR49,410,146.42 worth of loan payments along with their interest payments. Thereby, the investigation did not reveal any contravention with the law number 2/2000 (Prevention and Prohibition of Corruption Act), in recompensing the loan payments. Hence, the case was concluded under section 25 (a) (1) of law number 13/2008 (Anti-Corruption Commission Act), as there was no offence of corruption in the case.
Although ACC’s investigation reveals that the Ministry of Finance and Treasury has taken actions to recover the loans, there seem to be no much progress in recompensing the money. Hence, ACC has recommended the Ministry to expedite the procedures on recovering the loans under the Public Finance Regulation 1.07.
Moreover, the investigation reveals that some of the serial numbers for the loans were missing on the lists maintained by the Ministry. Thus, ACC has recommended the Ministry to be more heedful while writing the serial numbers for the loans.
ACC has also recommended the Ministry of Finance and Treasury to blacklist the insolvent debtors and send their relevant information to the banks in Maldives as part of the procedure established by the President’s Office on 08th December 2015, to recover the loans issued from its treasury at a swift rate.