Friday
22nd Nov 2024
Dhivehi Edition
President Solih inaugurating SDFC
The State’s anti-graft watchdog, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has said that they were investigating accusations of corruption made against the lending practices of the SME Development Financing Corporation (SDFC).
Speaking to The Maldives Journal, the ACC said that they were looking into several accusations that loans had been given through corruption. The ACC declined to disclose specific details of the cases under investigation.
Hassan Manik, the ACC’s Information Officer, said that while there were cases of political pressure to grant people loans; there had also been cases where differing political allegiances had been thought to be the reason why loans were denied.
According to reliable sources: Majlis Members, as well as officials at different levels of the Ministry of Economic Development , have arranged loans through the SFDC. MP Hassan Afeef (Vilifushi) has also accused the SFDC of such wrongdoing.
According to Afeef, once a proposal submitted to the SFDC is rejected, all it would take for the loan to be arranged for the rejected proposal is a single phone call from a specific person.
The SFDC operates under the purview of the Ministry of Economic Development.