ACC's report on seaplane deal, publicized

While it was first announced that the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC)’s report on the allegations against Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) was confidential, the report has since been publicized.

Speaker, former President Mohamed announced that the report was marked “confidential” at Monday’s parliament sitting. However, it is not published on the People’s Majlis official website.

While ACC had revealed that a criminal investigation had been launched over the seaplane terminal deal following allegations of bias, the report was compiled based on these findings.

MACL is accused of working to lease the terminal to Trans Maldivian Airways (TMA) at an unfair rate to benefit a certain party.

Following these accusations, Speaker Nasheed on Monday announced that TMA’s majority shareholder Bain Capital -an American company- had shared details with the parliament, and added that discussions over the leasing of the seaplane terminal was carried out between October 2017 to October 2018.

Noting that these dealings were conducted during the previous administration, Nasheed stated that the current government is working to handle the matter in the best possible way.

While the seaplane terminal issue was raised by Dhaandhoo constituency MP Yaugoob Abdulla, a special audit conducted by ACC shows that the state will face a USD 55 million dollar loss -each year under the current terms.