Civil Court moves forward in MMPRC embezzlement case in absentia

The Civil Court has decided to move forward with its case for the state operated Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation’s (MMPRC) bid to recover MVR 165 million from Scores of Flair (SOF), in the defendant's absence.

The hearing at which this was decided was held on 11:15 on Tuesday, this is the second time that the court has moved to go forth with hearings for this case.

Both parties have finished discovery stages and exchanged documents. Previously, the court had dismissed the entire case, citing that the MMPRC had failed to appear for proceedings saying that it had not received summons for the hearing in question.

The MMPRC is claiming funds allegedly embezzled into SOF, a company owned by a close associate of former vice president Ahmed Adeeb, currently serving a 33-year jail sentence. The case itself is considered part of the largest corruption case in Maldivian history.

The MMPRC expects MVR 158 million in various forms of compensation and has asked the court to recover a sum of MVR 6 million, which the corporation had previously transferred to SOF.

The Anti-Corruption Commission began probing into allegations that MMPRC’s former Managing Director, Abdulla Ziyath, former Vice President Adeeb, and businessman Hameed Ismail had embezzled from resort leases.

The probe was launched in October, though it also began inquiring into a second corruption case in September after Al Jazeera’s investigative unit released an exposé into embezzlement and money laundering dealings primarily uncovered by former Auditor General Niyaz Ibrahim, which also comprised of leak phone records and bank statements.

President Abdulla Yameen had insisted that that corruption did not reach higher than the office of his deputy, although the government has been defensive, going as far as to deem Al Jazeera’s report to be ‘biased, and unsubstantiated’.