It has come to light that the contract to procure body-worn cameras for the Maldives Police Service in 2022 was awarded to a different company whose shareholders were the same as those of the company that was initially awarded the contract but later disqualified by the National Tender Board for not meeting the requirements. This was revealed through information obtained during an investigation by a sub-committee of the Parliament’s Finance Committee concerning the police-owned company, POLCO. Body-worn cameras, or cameras worn on the uniform, were first introduced for use by frontline police officers on February 13, 2022, under the leadership of the then-Commissioner of Police, Mohamed Hameed.
According to the investigation conducted by the Finance Committee’s sub-committee regarding POLCO, there were significant discrepancies in the process of procuring body-worn cameras for frontline officers in 2022. Initially, the contract to procure 1,400 body-worn cameras was awarded to Zeta Enterprises under a single-source procurement policy. However, after reviewing the matter, the National Tender Board determined that the company did not meet the required qualifications.
The Tender Board noted that although Zeta Enterprises submitted a supplier credit letter, their financial statements indicated a lack of capacity to undertake such a project. The board also stated that since Zeta was not a company that supplied security and electronic equipment, it lacked the necessary technical capability. Furthermore, the Tender Board highlighted inconsistencies between the date the police initiated the procurement process and the date Zeta began trial work for the cameras. Following the National Tender Board’s decision, the police department gazetted a new announcement to procure 200 body-worn cameras. This was announced in October 2021 during the administration of former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. Three parties bid for the project, and the police department awarded the contract to Zeta Technology, a company affiliated with the shareholders of Zeta Enterprises.
Although the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) investigated the matter at the time, it concluded that there was no act of corruption involved. However, the chair of the Finance sub-committee and Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Ahmed Nazim, the MP for the Dhiggaru constituency, stated that the timeline of the camera procurement process is now very clear. He emphasized that it is evident that after Zeta Enterprises was deemed unqualified, the contract was awarded to another company with the same shareholders.
Nazim stated that while the initial estimated cost was MVR 48 million, the total expenditure upon completion was MVR 66 million. He noted that this was approximately MVR 18 million more than the estimated amount for procuring the cameras. “Our observation is that Zeta Technologies obtained the agency rights after the process had already begun. They attempted to buy 1,400 cameras, then bought 200, and the justification given to buy the remaining 1,200 was that 200 cameras had already been procured,” Nazim said.
Information released by the Finance Committee also reveals that while Zeta began the process of purchasing Axon brand body-worn cameras in 2021, the company only obtained exclusive rights in April 2022. On November 27, 2022, the police awarded the contract to procure an additional 1,200 body cameras to Zeta Technology for MVR 66 million. However, information gathered by the sub-committee shows that the police department disbursed MVR 67 million to the company. The committee also noted that this has resulted in a significant loss to the state budget.
