M7 Print files police complaint, claims employees have been threatened
Many employees at M7 Print had been asked to give false testimonies
Election officials at the polling stations
M7 Print Private Limited has lodged a complaint at the Maldives Police Service, following requests employees received to give false statements regarding the ballot papers of the Presidential Election held on the 23rd of September.
M7’s Managing Director Mohamed Abdul Sattar stated that state officials have been trying to bribe employees at the company last week. As such, some employees were offered hefty sums of money to give false testimonies against their company.
Sattar said that employees had been threatened by ruling Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) officials when they had revealed this to their seniors.
“We took on the project, having made thorough preparations. We are one of the companies that use the best technology in cheque printing. We contracted the project for MVR 3.6 million which is really a small amount” said Sattar.
Giving full assurance that there were no issues with the ballot papers printed by his company, Sattar stated that they do not carry out illegal practices and that no matter how much they are threatened, there is nothing the ruling party has against them.
Reports surfaced during the Presidential Election, that M7 had used a certain chemical while printing out the ballot papers, that will erase all marks. Sattar, who was quick to refute these allegations, said that he doubts that the Elections Commission will do anything to the ballot papers in such a short time before the election.
Reiterating that additional ballot papers were not printed, Sattar said that a total of 264,756 ballot papers were printed for the presidential election.
