At a time when the issue of a report prepared by the Maldives Monetary Authority’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) hasU) has surfaced regarding some transactions allegedly conducted to provide undue benefits to companies in which Ibrahim Shujau, the Member of Parliament for Baarah constituency, has shares, the Parliament’s SOE Committee has also removed him today. Shujau was also the chair of that committee until now. While opening today’s parliamentary session, the Speaker of the Parliament, Abdulla Abdurraheem, announced that the Parliamentary National Committee (PNC) has appointed another person to replace Shujau on the SOE Committee, which oversees the affairs of state-owned companies in the Parliament.
Ahmed Naseer, the Member for Ihavandhoo constituency, was appointed to the committee in place of Shujau. With accusations of corruption pointed at Shujau, the Public Finance Committee had also removed him yesterday and transferred him to the National Development and Heritage Committee. After investigating the matter of large sums of money being sent to accounts of some individuals who have shares with Shujau and have family ties with him, when questioned by the media following the public circulation of the FIU report on social media, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) stated yesterday that they have been investigating the matters mentioned in the report for some time. The police also stated that they are investigating the matter of the report.
However, Shujau said that he does not know whether the FIU report is authentic or not. He said the reason for this is that no agency has questioned him so far. According to the FIU report, in addition to Shujau’s Official Events, four other companies have conducted transactions. These include Swan Family, Store Pros Trading, Quick Shua, and DQ Holdings. The report was prepared, as it states, about Shujau and some people related to his family, namely Mohamed Nafiz and Ahmed Adham.
Among these, Nafiz is a Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Fisheries. Adham is a shareholder of Official Events. Adham also continues to serve as a board member of PSM.
