Majlis Committee Decision To Dismiss ACC Members Unjust And Thoughtless: MNP

The Maldives National Party (MNP) has stated that the Parliament Committee on Independent Institutions had made an "unjust" decision to single out the members of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for dismissal on the allegation that the ACC was incapable of investigating the cases from the previous administration.

The Parliament Committee had decided to dismiss the members of the ACC on the claim that the Auditor General's Office performance audit of the ACC showed that cases which had not been sufficiently investigated had piled up. All of the ACC's members had resigned after the Parliament Committee had submitted a motion to the Majlis seeking their dismissal.

The statement released by MNP expressed concern that the Majlis had convened during recess for the sole purpose of dismissing the members of the ACC, an institution that should work independently and without bias to carry out its responsibility of rooting out corruption.

The MNP pointed out that given that the ACC was investigating the MMPRC case, as well as other cases, as a point investigation under the supervision of the Asset Recovery Commission, it was "unjust" to single out the members of the ACC for dismissal after alleging that corruption cases were not being properly investigated.

The second reason for dismissing the members was based on the strength of the Auditor General's report, said the statement. The MNP pointed out that the report was based on the ACC's work from 2015 until 2020. Given that the most recent members had been appointed on September 2019, read the statement, it "did not make sense" for those members to take responsibility for the actions taken by the ACC with regards to investigations conducted from 2015 to 2019.

The MNP also stated that the dismissal of all members of a constitutionally-mandated institution such as the ACC should come after a thorough investigation. They noted that the ACC's remaining three members had sent their response to the Committee's motion in writing at 10am on 26 December 2021. The response had been received with the Committee at 1.36pm. The Committee had later convened at 4.30pm and had decided on carrying through with the dismissal. The MNP stated that they did not believe that the members of the Committee had made this decision after the careful thought and deliberation that such an important matter deserved.

The MNP also stated that this dismissal of the ACC's members while the Majlis was in recess would mean that appointing and nominating replacements would take a long time. The MNP stated that the ACC's work could come to a halt in that time and enter a legal vacuum.

The MNP called on the government to provide the ACC with the necessary resources and budget they required to carry out their responsibilities fairly and independently.

Members Ali Ashraf and Ibrahim Shakeel had resigned at the start of the Committee's work on seeking the dismissal of the ACC membership. President Maryam Shiuna, Vice President Fathimath Anoola, and Member Aishath Abdullah resigned today, after the Committee decided on dismissing all the members of the ACC.