Under fire Deputy Health Minister speaks out on corruption allegations

Under fire Deputy Health Minister and Chair of the Health Ministry’s bid committee Nishaama Mohamed has spoken out about the allegations of corruption and misconduct made against her stemming from an audit report into the expenditure of the Health Ministry during the COVID-9 situation in the Maldives.

Health Minister Abdulla Ameen has even stepped aside from duties following the allegations and the President has now ordered investigations into the findings of the report.

Deputy Minister Nishaama, as the chair of the bid committee, is accused of misconduct, providing false information and even possible acts of corruption during the process. She is currently suspended from her post.

The Deputy Minister issued a statement today saying that she had been in full compliance with the public account regulations of the country in the procurement of the ventilators from the Dubai based Executors General Trading.

The company was awarded the procurement of ventilators since the country was in dire need of ventilators which was an essential tool to treat the increasing number of COVID-19 cases. 

“I have not worked to provide anyone with an undue advantage or benefit in my capacity. As the top official of the bid committee, I acted honestly and in good faith” said the Deputy Minister in her statement.

The bid committee made the decision based on the information it had received, said the Minister who added that the documents submitted to the committee had read that the company was proposed after discussions between Health Minister Ameen and the WHO representative in the Maldives.

The bid committee had also clarified information from the WHO country office and decided based on the information provided by the Financial Executive of the Health Ministry Ahmed Aslam.

The statement also read that the bid committee decided to go ahead with the contract after ensuring that there was a sufficient budget and in compliance with the public account regulations. 

Other than Nishaama who is also a member of the Jumhooree Party governing council, remaining members of the bid committee and the Financial Executive of the Ministry Ahmed Aslam are all suspended.

Nishaama said that she would fully comply with any investigation into the matter and that attempts were being made to falsely place the blame on some individuals in order to impede and influence the investigation.

Rather than targeting specific figures, Nishaama called for the investigation to focus on everyone involved in the entire process. 

Other than Nishaama, State Minister of the Health Ministry, and member of the bid committee Dr. Shah Abdulla Mahir had also issued a statement regarding similar allegations made against him. He said that he had no involvement in the procurement of ventilators through the Dubai based company.

Auditor General Hassan Ziyath, speaking in a parliament committee earlier this week, had said that the bid committee and the Financial Executive of the Ministry were the individuals most responsible for the scandal. 

The compliance audit report on the Health Ministry’s COVID-19 related spending was released on Sunday and states there is reason to believe the procurement of ventilators from overseas involves fraud.

Health Ministry had contracted the import of ventilators – part of efforts to improve the capacity of Maldives’ health system to treat COVID-19 patients who require intensive care - to three private companies; Medtech Maldives, Naadu Private Limited, and Dubai-based Executors General Trading LLC.

While Health Minister Abdulla Ameen and officials from National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) previously stated that the Executors General Trading was contracted to supply 75 ventilators at the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Auditor General’s Office found the company had not been recommended by the organization.

The audit uncovered that 11 ventilators which were supplied by Executors General Trading were not the brand of ventilators they had been contracted to procure, and did not meet the requirements. Executors General Trading was also contracted to procure the ventilators at a higher price than other suppliers. Health Ministry also did not obtain a performance guarantee, or an advance payment guarantee when it paid MVR 30 million (90 percent of the total payment) as an advance to the company.