The special audit report of Fenaka Corporation for three years, released by the Auditor General’s Office, revealed that between 2021 and 2023 (during President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s administration, when Ahmed Saeed was the MD of Fenaka), corruption amounting to over 2.2 billion rufiyaa occurred. This is believed to be the largest “corruption” case made public in Maldivian history. The report mainly highlighted 57 projects carried out “in-house” by Fenaka (33 office buildings and 24 powerhouse construction works). Although more than 1.069 billion rufiyaa had been spent on these projects by the end of 2024, only 7 office buildings and 9 powerhouses were completed. Of the remaining 41 projects, 33 were less than 50% complete.
Of the expenses for these projects, over 606 million rufiyaa was spent on purchasing materials, while more than 417 million rufiyaa was spent on salaries and allowances for temporary staff. Additionally, over 45 million rufiyaa was paid to parties who previously worked on a contract basis. The report states that while each “in-house” project cost an average of over 18 million rufiyaa, if put out to tender, it would not have exceeded an average of 9 million rufiyaa. Thus, the spending was twice the market price.
The audit notes that when these projects are fully completed, the total cost will exceed 1.3 billion rufiyaa, which is approximately 767 million rufiyaa more than a competitive bidding process would have cost. These increased costs were due to delays in completion, high expenditure on temporary staff salaries and allowances, expensive procurement of goods and services, and lack of robust project planning and management.
The audit states that Fenaka’s financial situation has deteriorated since 2019, and debt has increased due to management making large expenditures unrelated to income in ways that facilitate corruption.
