Saturday
20th Apr 2024
Dhivehi Edition
corruption
MVR60 Million Stolen In Dirty Ambulance Procurement By Ministry of Health And STO: Sources
STO's Managing Director Hussen Amr.
Accusations of corruption have come to light regarding the acquisition of 90 ambulances as part of an agreement between the Ministry of Health and the State Trading Organisation.
An employee at the Ministry of Health spoke with The Maldives Journal regarding the deal. The employee said that the ambulances that had been procured had breached the terms of the agreement made between the two state bodies.
The employee said that the Ministry of Health and STO had agreed on the procurement of 90 parademic ambulances. However, the ambulances would be paid for by the next administration. Each ambulance procured cost the State MVR1.2 million.
The total procurement for all 90 ambulances has a price-tag of MVR108 million. The employee stated that no tender had been announced for the procurement, but the deal had gone through as a single-source procurement.
The employee further stated that none of the ambulances that had already been procured by STO were paramedic ambulances, but were normal life-support ambulances.
Employees at the Ministry of Health had confirmed that the ambulances that had been procured by STO did not meet the requirements set by the Ministry. They said that some of the ambulances ran on diesel and petrol.
The employee stated that despite the degraded quality of the procured ambulances, there had been no changes to the cost. The employee stated that the total cost of procuring and importing an ambulance to the Maldives from Dubai would cost MVR530,000.
The employee claimed that once the deal had been made and a supplier had been decided upon, STO's Managing Director Hussain Amru and the Health Ministry's State Minister Adhil had met with the supplier and had altered the speficiations of the ambulances ordered. The changes in the cost had also been discussed. The employee accused Amru and several others of participating in pocketing the difference.
The employee stated that a total MVR60,300,000 has been embezzled as part of this deal. The employee stated that this money would be distributed between STO's MD Amru, high officials of the Ministry of Health, and Minister of Finance Ibrahim Ameer.
When asked for comment, Minister of Health, Ahmed "Kerafa" Naseem said that he "did not believe" that such a thing had happened. He said that he denied the allegations, and that he was supervising the ambulance procurement closely, and that he would put a stop to any wrongdoing if he were to find any.