Ex-NIC official found negligent in Rilwan’s case to be appointed ACC Investigation Dept. chief

RaajjeMV has learnt that former National Integrity Commission (NIC) member, Ahmed Ameen is to be appointed as the head of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC)’s Investigation Department.

Ameen resigned from NIC this July, after the parliament’s committee on independent institutions found him and the remaining members negligent in their work. While this was followed by an impeachment motion, the four resigned prior to a vote.

ACC recently announced vacancy for the post of senior investigation officer, and while Ameen is to have applied for this, RaajjeMV understands that he has been selected for the post, as well as the head of the ACC Investigation Department.

NIC’s then President Ahmed Sulaiman, Vice President Hassaan Hameed and member Khadheeja Ibrahim Mohamed resigned with Ameen on July 12.

All four were appointed during the previous administration of the now incarcerated former President Abdulla Yameen.

The parliament committee made the decision to seek their dismissal from NIC on July 9, with various allegations against them.

While the NIC had in September 2019 released a report saying that there was no evidence backing that Maldives Police Service was negligent in the investigations into journalist Ahmed Rilwan’s abduction case, they were summoned to the parliament’s committee on national security in October that year.

At the meeting, they are to have admitted to having failed to conduct a thorough investigation into the case, which the committee noted showed their incompetence and incapability.

The committee also noted that NIC had failed to investigate the case of police officers showing force and manhandling a civilian at a house in the Maafannu district of the capital, even eight months after the case was submitted.

The five-member commission is tasked with investigating any unlawful acts of Law Enforcement Agencies and employees of Law Enforcement Agencies, whether submitted by a third party or on its own initiative.

The National Integrity Commission (NIC) was formed on 6th December 2015, “to strengthen the integrity of Law Enforcement Agencies in the Maldives and the employees of such agencies and establish procedures and guidelines to investigate cases related to those institutions and to establish the responsibilities, powers, scope of work, prerequisites and disciplinary standards of the members of the Commission, and to determine the procedures for the operation of the Commission and the procedures for carrying out its duties and other related procedures.”

It is yet to complete an investigation and forward a case for prosecution.

While work is underway to appoint Ameen to the ACC Department despite his background, ACC’s media official refused to comment “on administrative issues.”