List of people who accepted MMPRC cash will be publicized soon: PNC

The opposition Progressive Coalition has claimed that the government plans to publicize a list of people who have accepted embezzled cash from the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC).

At a press conference on Tuesday, People’s National Congress (PNC) President Abdul Raheem Abdulla said that they have received information that the presidential inquiry commission plans to publicize the list.

Abdul Raheem said that some parliamentary candidates of the opposition coalition will be included in the list and accused the government of hindering the opposition’s campaign out of fear that the main ruling party might not receive parliament majority.

He said that the auditor general and the prosecutor general is also in the UK to discuss publicizing the list and that this is different from Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC)’s list, which included names of accounts that MMPRC deposited money to.

Abdul Raheem said that the opposition’s campaign has been greatly hindered by the arrest of former President Abdulla Yameen and that their campaign funds were kept in Yameen’s account, which has been frozen by the authorities. He also said that they have not received funds from the Elections Commission and that due to these reasons, a total of MVR 20 million have been withheld from them.

He added that Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) have been unable to pay back the MVR 3.8 million to national airline Maldivian because of this. The court has ordered PPM to pay the amount to Maldivian over chartered flights from the airline on credit to transport its supporters to a mass rally held by Yameen during the 2018 presidential campaign.

Abdul Raheem said that they have requested the finance ministry to transfer the withheld campaign funds to the opposition coalition, and implied that they would go to court if they do not receive the money.