President Yameen's “Money Rotation” Scam !!!

President Yameen is back to his evil path of robbing Maldivian people's money in what is being known as Yameen's “Money Rotation” scam. The modus operandi of the scam is simple:

1. President Yameen gives contract awarding authority to some well known junior rank minister acting as a stooge in the scam.


2.Without inviting any sort of quotations or bids junior rank minister awards lucrative contract to own or known person's company with no experience or capacity and known records of poor quality work.


3.The company abuses the contract in every possible way to unlawfully benefit millions of US$ from the contract.


4.Due major share of these unlawful benefits are then transferred to President Yameen and his stooge junior rank minister for graft in awarding the lucrative contract.

The whole “Money Rotation” scam is tightly secured by using President's power, money and influence in the administration and judiciary. Even when Anti-Corruption Commission, Anti-Corruption Watchdogs or any member of opposition draws allegations of corruption, President Yameen uses his power, influence and money to pressurize the Prosecutor General’s office not to press any charges or register any case towards the company or the contractor, thus providing the scam a whole security network from getting exposed.

To bring more light to the President Yameen's “Money Rotation” scam, hereby stated are the facts revolving around the whole scam controversy:

In July last year, Mohamed Hussain Shareef, former presidential affairs minister, was accused of graft in awarding the lucrative contract to the “Newport Restaurant” for the official Independence Day banquet but the Prosecutor General’s office declined to prosecute Shareef after the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) forwarded charges of abuse of power to unlawfully benefit a third party. The officials of ACC said, “Newport did not have the experience to cater for such an event, and the minister never checked if they had the capacity,”.

Detailed investigation in the case by ACC reveal that the Presidential affairs minister, Mohamed Hussain Shareef, last year awarded the MVR3.7 million catering contract to a restaurant owned by activists of the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) despite their lack of experience. Even employees of the president’s office complained to the ACC of the poor quality of the food and said it did not live up to the price. The Anti-Corruption Commission forwarded the case for prosecution against Shareef last week under charges of abuse of power to unlawfully benefit a third party. The Prosecutor General’s office decided not to press charges against Mohamed Hussain Shareef over alleged corruption in the selection of caterer for the official independence day banquet.  

A spokesperson at the Prosecutor General office said there was not enough evidence to prosecute the former minister Shareef for abuse of power. Since ACC sends case to the Prosecutor General only when the commission thinks the accused can and should be charged, Muaviz Rasheed, Vice President of the ACC, said “the commission will look into the reason why the PG decided not to charge Shareef.” “In awarding the contract, the former minister had claimed that it was President Abdulla Yameen who had chosen Newport. Shareef later admitted that he had lied,” the ACC spokesperson said. Newport had submitted a proposal to serve 300 VIPs and a buffet for 500 dignitaries. The agreed cost was US$ 285 per head. It is not clear on whose orders Newport had submitted the proposal, the ACC said. According to the ACC, the price per head would have been much lower if quotations had been obtained from others. Shareef had told the ACC that a coordination committee at the president’s office had advised Newport’s hire, but committee members have now denied the claim.

 According to the ACC, Shareef had also assisted the Newport Restaurant in hiring waiters for the banquet through the president’s office and used state funds to buy a sorbet machine for the restaurant. The poor quality of the food prompted several reporters to allege corruption. A diplomat told that the food was “inauthentic and tasteless.

 Immediately after the scam, former Presidential Affairs Minister Mohamed Hussain Shareef was appointed to head the Maldives’ diplomatic mission in Japan on August 17^th 2016. 

Few months earlier to the whole caterer scam controversy, the same person Mohamed Hussain Shareef was forced to quit the government in the wake of an explosion on President Abdulla Yameen’s speedboat. Hamid Ismail, an influential businessman related to jailed Vice President Ahmed Adeeb, and Mohamed Hussain Shareef pair were arrested from an apartment in Malaysia on suspicion of links to a plot to assassinate President Abdulla Yameen. The commission is also investigating other complaints over the banquet, including the hire of tables and chairs. According to the finance ministry, a budget of MVR150 million was allocated for the celebrations to mark the Maldives’ golden jubilee of independence.

Despite the whole controversy and still ongoing investigations, the president’s office once again awarded the catering contract to Newport for this year’s Independence Day reception without inviting any quotations and bids from any other caterers, indicating clearly President Yameen's favoring of this particular caterer. The recent move is also an evidence that holds true Shareef's claim to ACC that a coordination committee at the president’s office had advised Newport’s hire.

What's even more shocking is the case of President Yameen's dictator regime awarding a project to build a platform for the public to view the ongoing construction of the “China-Maldives Friendship” bridge, largest infrastructure project in the country’s history, in Malé’s southeastern corner. “The government believes it is a right of each Maldivian citizen for an arrangement to view up close how this is proceeding”, said Housing Minister Dr Mohamed Muiz, who signed the agreement on behalf of the government.

The platform will seat 350 people. It will also include a restaurant, a parking zone, and a children’s area, to be developed on a plot of about 10,000 square feet at the former surf point. The local company chosen for constructing Maldives mega project is Strada Pvt. Ltd. and is a parent concern of the above mentioned Newport Restaurant and describes itself on Facebook as a “multifaceted investment company” with holdings in food and beverage, brand franchising and event management, operates the Newport restaurant. As already mentioned above, last year, the anti-corruption watchdog investigated allegations of corruption in an MVR3.7 million (US$240,00) catering deal awarded to the same restaurant by the president’s office. Strada Pvt. Ltd.'s Director Zahid Rameez, who signed the platform agreement on behalf of the company, is a member of the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives’ executive council.

Maldives largest infrastructure project yet, US$210 million “China-Maldives Friendship” bridge is a key campaign pledge of President Abdulla Yameen. The mega construction project is to be financed with US$126 million in grant aid and a concessionary loan from China along with US$12.6 million from the Maldivian state budget. 

The 1.39km-long and 20.3m-wide bridge will span from Malé’s eastern edge to the western corner of the island of Hulhulé, where the airport is located, and connect the capital to the suburb Hulhumalé. President Yameen plans to relocate 70 percent of the Maldives population, presently scattered across 188 islands, to a new ‘Youth City’ in Hulhumalé. 

Among the rumors of halting of construction work on the project and the minister holding a press conference to dismiss rumours that the government was facing difficulties in financing the bridge and that construction work on the bridge had come to a halt, Anti-Corruption Commision's (ACC) investigation into this mega project reveal that this US$210 million mega construction project has been awarded to company “CCCC Second Harbour Engineering” directly by President's office, under closed bidding system, but President's office have refused to specify exact figure. The contractor chosen for this mega construction project, CCCC Second Harbour Engineering, was blacklisted by the World Bank over fraudulent practices during a road improvement project in the Philippines, fact which was clearly overlooked by President Yameen's office while awarding the contract. Awarding of this mega project also has drawn allegations of corruption from international agencies and people of Maldives but President Yameen's government has already signed the deal in record time.

After the alleged scam of US$ 1.6bn in selling and leasing atolls to International resort chains and being successfully able to curb any and every voice raised against the scam, President Yameen is again back to his evil ways of looting money from people of Maldives. President Yameen seems to be bringing Maldives back to dictatorship ways, robbing away Maldives money and declaring himself unquestionable by any administrative or judicial authority. With most of Yameen's political rivals in exile or jailed, media's freedom of expression curbed, protest of Maldivian people crushed brutally by force, President Yameen currently stands unrivaled and the only force of Maldives and with no one to question or prosecute him, President Yameen proceeds to perform scam after scan to rob people of Maldives in any and every possible way.