Former Minister Zaky’s son receives MVR1.7 million annually from the government.

Former acting leader of the Maldivian Democratic Party and former cabinet minister Ibrahim Hussain Zaky’s son, Ahmed Salman Zaky is being paid 1.73 million Maldivian Rufiyaa in the form of income and expenses by the Maldivian government.

Ahmed Salman Zaki is a First Secretary in the Maldivian Foreign Service based in New York City of the United States of America. Until the recent appointment, he had been living in the United Kingdom since childhood. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Abdulla Shahid was directly responsible for Salman’s appointment given that Salman has familial ties with the Foreign Minister.

A breakdown of the annual income allocated to Salman
⁃ Basic Salary of MVR180,000
⁃ Ramadan Allowance of MVR 3000
⁃ Community Allowance of MVR 95,296
⁃ Dependence Allowance of MVR 1,241,803
⁃ Other Remuneration of 218,902
Which constitutes a total of MVR 1,739,001

Salman receives most of his annual income in dependence allowance. He received over MVR 1.2 million as a dependence allowance annually, even though, the information shared with TMJ by the Foreign Ministry clearly states that an individual in that position shall receive a maximum of MVR 240,000 annually as a dependence allowance.

Multiple people employed at numerous embassies are being paid hefty amounts by the government as salary and allowances. It is also evident that higher-up positions within these embassies and other organizations are mostly filled by people close to the ruling MDP.

It is not that there aren’t more qualified applicants for these jobs, people with better certification and job experience. These candidates get consideration only when there is no one is their immediate and non-immediate circles to fill these positions.