Speaker of Parliament, Mohamed Nasheed, has stated that former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb's phone and laptop reveals the identities of all those who have involvement in the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations (MMPRC) corruption scandal.
During a joint press conference held on October 24, the Assistant Commissioner of Police Mohamed Riyaz revealed that seven government officials, 16 members of the 19th parliament, 44 members of the 18th Parliament, and eight members of the judiciary were involved in the MMPRC graft. As such, the parliament requested the Asset Recovery Commission to identify if any MP's of the 19th parliament received funds from the graft.
Referring to this request at Thursday's parliament session, Nasheed stated that he hopes that the commission will complete its investigation and press charges on all the guilty parties as soon as possible. He stressed that neglecting to make sure the investigation is resolved makes all 87 members culpable in the crime.
Nasheed went on to disclose that the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) sought help from a foreign forensic accountant and discovered new evidence after analyzing the data on Adeeb's phone and laptop.
He stated that the forensic accountant's report was handed over to the Attorney General, who forwarded it to the Commissioner.
Nasheed claims that the report is so thorough that the commission would not even have to check for names and their corresponding ID numbers.
There were 73,000 texts. When they were all sorted and translated to English, we can clearly see who texted which member, which members were in contact with Adeeb. The information is very clear so neither the police or anyone else can say they are still investigating.
During a closed-door meeting of the parliament's Public Accounts Committee, former Prosecutor General Aishath Bisham revealed the current government, parliament, police, army and even members of the public accounts committee consist of individuals being investigated in connection to the MMPRC graft. While she further stated that she will share their identities at a later date, the committee resolved to investigate the case when the identities are publicly disclosed.
At the press conference regarding the MMPRC graft, the Assistant Police Commissioner also disclosed that investigations have found that the 267 individuals received funds from the MMPRC graft whereas previously only 177 individuals were known to have received the embezzled money.
