Transparency International (TI) last week reported that the Maldives police arrested former President Abdulla Yameen for alleged bribes and kickbacks in a massive corruption scandal estimated at US$80 million involving leasing islands and reefs. Yameen is alleged to have siphoned off government money through a private company that has been implicated in the corrupt real estate deals. Investigators found illegal payments totalling around US$1 million in Yameen’s bank account. The court has frozen the ex-president’s local bank accounts. However, it is believed that he might have deposited millions of dollars in foreign accounts.
TI noted that several governments have been elected mainly because of their promise to investigate corruption under their predecessors and to have in place a corruption-free administration. However, according to the international anti-corruption watchdog, they failed to do so, citing Jordan, India, and the United States which lost four points on the Corruption Perceptions Index. TI referred to the importance of the work of independent watchdog groups around the world seeking to hold governments accountable and noted the huge risks investigative journalists are facing in trying to bring to light corrupt deals. It cited the most recent case where a young Slovakian journalist and his wife were murdered apparently out of revenge for reporting on such deals.
Today’s article in a continuation of our coverage of events taking place since the 21 December 2018 since the no confidence vote was passed in the National Assembly and as a consequence the requirement to hold elections within three months.
