Ahmed Nazim, Deputy Speaker of the People’s Majlis and PNC member for Dhiggaru constituency, said today that the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is not investigating corruption cases at the required speed. The Independent Institutions Committee has passed a bill submitted to the People’s Majlis by the government to amend the laws of the ACC and the Elections Commission (EC) to give the President the power to appoint the chairpersons of these two commissions. Debating the committee report today, Nazim said that the ACC bears the greatest responsibility for resolving corruption issues given how deeply rooted corruption is in the Maldives.
“I was involved in the work of the first ACC established after the constitution came into effect. The commissions that came after haven’t done that work. So this effort is to get the commission’s work up and running again,” Nazim said. Noting that a lot of work has been done to eliminate corruption since this government came to power, Nazim said that efforts to eliminate corruption in uniformed institutions are particularly notable.
“Recently, some corruption cases in Corrections have been investigated and sent to court. Even now, the Auditor General is conducting an audit within the Police. Customs affairs are also being closely monitored. So the commissions need to be put in order to put these things in order. And the change of chairman and vice chairman is being done in the same way as in all commissions,” Nazim said. Nazim said that the ACC is not working at the speed required to investigate corruption cases.
