Anti-Corruption Commission Throws Out MNDF Bribery Case

The Anti-Corruption Commission, the State's anti-graft institution, has decided to reject a case about $20 million USD in bribes having been taken by high officials of the military, government ministries, and heads of State institutions.

Dhiyares, the sister-newspaper of The Maldives Journal, has received a copy of the letter that had been submitted to the ACC to lodge the case. The letter accused high-ranking officials of the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) of having taken large bribes from a foreign nation prior to the signing of the "Development, Support and the Maintenance of the Maldives National Defence Force Harbour Sifavaru At Uthuru Thila Falhu" between the governments of the Maldives and India.

The letter stated that there were accusations that the standards of living enjoyed by certain high-ranking generals of the MNDF had improved unexpectedly. The letter had requested the Commission to investigate whatever enrichment that had come to the property of their wives, children, siblings, parents, uncles, and aunts within the past 12 months.

Speaking to an online newspaper, a spokesperson for the ACC had said that this case had been rejected as the case did not contain any case of corruption. However, giving and receiving bribes is considered an act of corruption by the Maldivian legal framework.

This is the quickest response that the ACC has given to a submitted case in recent history.

A high-ranking official had told Dhiyares, on the condition of anonymity, that a total of $20 million USD in bribes had been distributed to people in various positions in the government. The MNDF had denied that this claim was true during a press conference held on 16 March, 2021. They had said that "soldiers would never do such things".