"Gov't officials must not share confidential information with the speaker"
18 ފެބުރުއަރީ 2020 | އަންގާރަ 10:08Nasheed stressed that there isn't anything that requires to "only be for his ears"
Speaker of Parliament, Former President Mohamed Nasheed
Speaker of the People’s Majlis, Former President Mohamed Nasheed has urged all government institutions and state officials not to share confidential information with him.
This comes at a time the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC)’s report on the allegations against Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) regarding the leasing of the new seaplane terminal to Trans Maldivian Airways (TMA) at an unreasonable price, was submitted to Tuesday’s sitting. Although it was initially marked confidential, the ACC has since publicized the report.
The report was received last Thursday as “confidential”, however, Nasheed revealed his decision to share it with parliamentarians in private. Following this decision, the speaker drew criticism from the public.
Following this decision, ACC and Transparency Maldives had sought for the report to be publicized and ACC revealed to media that the report was marked confidential as the commission wanted to publicize the information in the report, on their own.
It is noteworthy that information withheld in reports marked confidential may only be shared between state institutions after approval from the institution that initially shared it.
The report was publicized on the official website of the People’s Majlis on Monday night.
Speaking in connection to the matter at Tuesday’s sitting, Nasheed claimed that he had only asserted that the report was confidential, owing to the fact that it was marked confidential.
Highlighting that there must not be any secrets that are “only for his ears”, Nasheed asserted that such “secrets” and “confidential information” shared with him, will be privately shared with all 87 members of the parliament.
The allegations against MACL are being investigated by the parliament’s public accounts committee and Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer has since revealed the government’s policies set for the project.
Nasheed had stated that the current administration is working to handle the matter in the “best possible way.”
A special audit conducted by ACC shows that the state will face a USD 55 million- loss each year under the existing terms.
