Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer says none of the investigating agencies had asked the Ministry to take action against any of its own staff in the ventilator scam.
He said this while speaking at the parliament today after the Minister was summoned to the chamber on a request by the MP for Villifushi Constituency Hassan Afeef to question why MVR 31 million was issued to Dubai's Executor General Trading to purchase ventilators against the Public Accounts Act.
MP Afeef has asked if the Ministry has taken action against any of its own staff if the funds were issued illegally.
In response, Minister Ameer said that the investigation has shown so far that no staff from the Ministry had done anything illegal in the ventilator transaction.
He also said that none of the investigating agencies had asked the Ministry to take action against any of its own staff in connection with the case.
The Minister noted that the Ministry had strengthened its procurement procedures as per the instruction given by the Anti-Corruption Commission.
The ventilator scam came out during the COVID-19 pandemic when the government issued MVR 75 million to the Dubai company without a bank guarantee to purchase 34 ventilators.
But the government only received 15 ventilators.
The ACC had asked the Prosecutor General's Office to charge three individuals in relation to the scam and the Maldivian government has also filed a case at the International Arbitration Center to seek more than USD 2 million in compensation.
