Probe underway over large deposits in police officers’ accounts

An investigation has been launched into a case where large sums of money were deposited into the accounts of police officers working at the police station in Milandhoo island of Shaviyani atoll.

In a message shared with the media on Tuesday night, the Maldives Police Service (MPS) revealed that substantial amounts of money were deposited into the accounts of police officers working at the Milandhoo Police Station.

The police institution has revealed that the suspected officers have since been brought to the capital, Malé City and the case is under investigation.

No further information has been disclosed by the police regarding the case. They have not revealed the amount of money deposited into the police officers' accounts or how many officers were brought to Malé in connection with the case.

RaajjeMV has learned that the funds deposited into the police officers’ accounts were intended to pay catering service providers supplying meals to the police. The payments were routed through the officers’ accounts as part of an arrangement with the catering companies.

Under the deal, although the officers were arranging their own meals, they were billing and collecting money as if catering services were being provided. It is reported that this practice has been ongoing for a considerable period.

Instead of giving meal allowances directly to police officers, it is common practice to outsource catering services through a bidding process.

The state budget for this year includes MVR 445 million for meals for both the military and police.

Of this, MVR 168 million from the budget has been allocated for police meal expenses, while MVR 87 million has been set aside as meal allowances for individual employees.

This amounts to approximately MVR seven million per month.