“Corruption allegations against Ihusaan were reported to Pres.”

The family of former Controller General of Immigration Mohamed Shamaan Waheed has revealed that allegations of corruption against Minister of Homeland Security and Technology Ali Ihusaan in overseeing the Ministry of Homeland Security and Technology as well as the Maldives Immigration, were brought to the attention of President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu.

Shamaan's family issued a press release on April 23, regarding the case where he was abruptly arrested and remanded pending sentencing.

The statement reads that a message was sent to President Muizzu in December 2024, sharing information about corruption allegations against Minister Ihsaan in issuing quotas for foreigners and work permits.

However, the family stressed that the president did not pay any attention to this message.

In the press release issued on Wednesday, Shamaan's family said that after sharing information about the home minister’s involvement in corrupt practices with the president, several important immigration-related matters were halted within the home ministry. Shamaan's family also revealed that many services related to immigration were delayed at the home ministry.

The statement said that Minister Ihusaan also initiated a criminal investigation against Shamaan through the Maldives Police Service (MPS). As such, when Shamaan submitted a request to the police institution to clear his criminal record for the purpose of registering an association, it was noted from the criminal record issued by the police on 2 February 2025, that the police were investigating a money laundering case linked to Shamaan.

However, as the police institution had not made such an allegation against Shamaan before and he had not committed such an act, Shamaan met with Minister Ihusaan with the criminal record. The statement goes on to read that during the meeting, Ihusaan had stated that the money laundering case mentioned in Shamaan's criminal record was due to an administrative error.

Explaining further, the family noted that when Shamaan met with Minister Ihusaan the latter claimed it was an "administrative error" and that he immediately summoned the Commissioner of Police to the ministry and ordered the correction of the criminal record. The family also said that the criminal record issued by the police institution on 5 February 2025, confirmed that Shamaan had no prior offences.

Shamaan's family has made numerous allegations against Ihusaan in the press release. As such, they said that Ihusaan’s illegal actions had created obstacles for the administrative operations of the immigration department.

The statement further reads that the home minister had worked to use the Immigration procurement process in violation of the State Finance Regulations, and that Minister Ihusaan had attempted to carry out illegal activities by having his secretary contact senior officials of the Immigration budget section.