A case alleging that Fenaka Corporation Limited had acted in contradiction to the law when purchasing dollar from a private company has been concluded and forwarded for prosecution by Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
Upon investigation, it was found that Fenaka corporation limited has spent 17,857,979.10 (seventeen million, eight hundred fifty-seven thousand, nine hundred seventy-nine Rufiyaa and ten Laari) in advance in order to purchase 1,158,105.00 (one million, one hundred fifty-eight thousand, one hundred five) dollar from a private company.
The case involves a total of 3 payment vouchers forwarded on 3 different occasions. The payment voucher of 4,626,000 (four million, six hundred twenty-six thousand) Rufiyaa prepared to purchase 300,000.00 (three hundred thousand) dollar was approved and signed by the Company’s Deputy Director and Chief Technical Officer. And the check prepared with regards to this voucher was approved and signed by the Deputy Director. Besides, the payment voucher of 5,999,999.10 (five million, nine hundred ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred ninety-nine Rufiyaa ten Laari) prepared to purchase 389,105 (three hundred eighty-nine thousand, one hundred five) dollar was approved and signed by Fenaka Corporation Limited’s Chief Technical Officer and the company’s Director. Moreover, the payment voucher of 7,231,980.00 (seven million, two hundred thirty-one thousand, nine hundred eighty) Rufiyaa prepared to purchase 469,000.00 (four hundred sixty-nine thousand) dollar was approved and signed by the company’s Director.
However, none of the forenamed signees have validated whether the dollar issuing Company has the license to trade dollar. Neither have they checked whether the dollar issuing company has the financial feasibility to carry out the transactions.
From the collected documents, it is evident that during 2016, Fenaka Corporation Limited has made efforts to obtain dollar through Ministry of Finance and Treasury and were unable to obtain the required amount of dollar from the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA). Nevertheless, during the period in which the dollar transactions were carried out, from April 2016 to November 2016, Fenaka Corporation Limited has not made any effort to obtain dollar from MMA through Ministry of Finance and Treasury. Neither have they reached out to any public institutions to obtain dollar during that period.
Furthermore, the dollar issuing company involved in this case is not among the companies with the license to trade dollars in the list published by MMA. From the investigation, it is evident that Fenaka Corporation Limited’s Former Managing Director suggested to purchase dollar from the forenamed company and also instructed the employees in the Finance Department to commence the dollar transactions. However, before such an instruction, Fenaka Corporation Limited’s former MD has not validated whether the dollar issuing company has the financial feasibility to carry out the transactions. In fact, from the dollar issuing company’s bank statements, it is clear that the company does not have the financial capability to issue the required amount of dollar. Moreover, the second and third dollar transactions were commenced while Fenaka Corporation Limited had yet not received dollar for the first transaction’s cheque.
As Fenaka Corporation Limited financed 17,857,979.10 (seventeen million, eight hundred fifty-seven thousand, nine hundred seventy-nine Rufiyaa ten Laari) in advance to purchase dollar from a private company, the private company has obtained an undue advantage. Hence, ACC has concluded the case under section 25 (a) (2) of law number 13/2008 (Anti-Corruption Commission Act), as there was offence of corruption in the case thus, warrants prosecution on the Deputy Director, Chief Technical Officer, Director and the former Managing Director of Fenaka Corporation Limited under Article 12 (a) of Law number: 2/2000 (Prevention & Prohibition of Corruption Act) and the case has been forwarded to the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Besides, the investigation revealed that instead of issuing dollar for the 17,857,979.10 (seventeen million, eight hundred fifty-seven thousand, nine hundred seventy-nine Rufiyaa ten Laari) spent by Fenaka Corporation Limited, the dollar issuing company had only issued one month’s dated cheques with the Mauritius Commercial Bank’s bank guarantee stamp. However, Mauritius Commercial Bank has stated that the bank stamp present on the forenamed cheques are not the stamp that they use to issue bank guarantee but a stamp that they use on their internal documents. Hence, it is suspected that the bank guarantee stamp used on the cheques involve malice and fraud. Therefore, this case has been forwarded to Maldives Police Service for investigation.