Report of Maldive Gas MD corruption sent to Majlis, President's Office

A report detailing allegations of corruption against the Managing Director of Maldive Gas, Shazail Shiyam, has been submitted to parliament and the President's Office.

An official who investigated the case at Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) confirmed this to Raajje MV, noting that allegations of corruption levelled against the now-suspended Managing Director of Maldive Gas have been concluded as false by the ACC. However, the official went on to reveal that a separate money-laundering case had been levelled against Shazail which is now under investigation by Maldives Police Service (MPS).

ACC does not have the legal prerogative to investigate money-laundering cases, and RaajjeMV understands that the initial claims of corruption against Shazail could not be proven as he had tampered with evidence to obstruct the investigation.

According to sources, police had seized Shazail's phone under a court warrant to analyse data before being handed over to the forensic department, the report of which details that the phone was last set up, initialized and used on 30th July 2020. As a result, the devices event logs, phone records and database creation only date back to 30th July 2020 as well, with all data from before then having been wiped.

It is believed that Shazail was somehow tipped that his phone was going to be seized, and a request to have the case investigated has been lodged with relevant authorities.

Shazail was suspended in October 2019 following allegations of corruption, and a request to investigate his case was submitted to ACC by the parliamentary committee for state-owned enterprises (SOE committee)

Shazail was suspended for having Maldive Gas purchase LPG mixture from a third-party supplier at a loss. In light of this, the SOE Committee also concluded that Maldive Gas should continue to secure LPG mixture only through direct purchasing transactions in the future.

The parliamentary SOE committee had met earlier in December before receiving and approving the finished report to express their concerns about delays, and had requested that ACC expedite the investigation within the next two months.

Shazail was given the position of Managing Director at Maldive Gas as a political appointee for a slot dedicated to the Maldives Reform Movement (MRM) within the coalition. During President Yameen Abdul Gayyoom's administration, Shazail had also occupied the posts of deputy minister for the Fisheries and Tourism ministries.