11 employees were dismissed from Fenaka Corporation over asset theft, says managing director Ahmed Saeed Mohamed.

Saeed this at a meeting with the parliament’s government oversight committee on Tuesday.

Senior Fenaka officials were summoned to the committee after Vaikaradhoo MP Ali Arif, a member of the opposition coalition, filed a case accusing the public utility company of dismissing numerous employees without a valid reason.

At the meeting, Saeed said that Fenaka has dismissed 53 employees so far and that 11 of them had stolen the company’s property and money while the rest were fired after failing to be disciplined after repeated warnings.

Saeed said their dismissals were not made a secret and that the company has their case files.

He also said that Fenaka was in a fragile financial state when the new government took over the company and so they are now taking action to improve the situation.

As part of their work, Fenaka will be closing 14 regional offices and dismissing 14 of the 84 employees at the offices after giving them compensation, he said, adding that this would result in the company saving MVR 14 million.

Saeed said that when he was appointed as the company head, Fenaka had been indebted to various organizations and private parties and that MVR 40 million were owed to the football association. However, he said that since then, Fenaka has paid 60% of the money to the football association and that the company has received a MVR 5 million income.

He also said that since he was appointed, Fenaka has refrained from taking any money from the finance ministry and only accepts government subsidies, comparing this to the behavior of previous company heads during President Abdulla Yameen’s administration.