Emergency motion urging Fenaka debt repayment plan rejected

An emergency motion was presented by People’s National Congress (PNC) deputy leader Adam Shareef Umar at the Parliament on Tuesday, calling for a financial audit of Fenaka Corporation and the formulation of a debt repayment plan has been rejected.

The Maduvvari MP submitting the motion alleging Fenaka owes over MVR 2.8 billion to small-scale suppliers in Male’ and other islands.

Adam Shareef said the businesses were facing financial difficulties due to the prolonged delay in payment, leaving them unable to pay their staff, leaving some of the businesses on the brink of bankruptcy.

He said that suppliers have repeatedly complained of lack of payment for their services.

He said that some of the suppliers had resorted to staging demonstrations in front of the Fenaka headquarters, and that small and medium enterprises, along with the general public, had lost their faith in the company.

Adam Shareef said Fenaka Corporation was on the brink of bankruptcy, but continued to bankroll efforts to influence the upcoming presidential election.

He said that the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) had reported multiple acts of corruption and financial irregularities linked to Fenaka.

Adam Shareef called for a management and financial audit of Fenaka identify the reasons why the company racked up such a high debt and the people responsible, and the formulation of a debt repayment plan.

He also called on the government to do everything necessary in order to prevent Fenaka from going bankrupt.

The motion was rejected with a majority vote of 18 out of 33 parliamentarians who took part in the vote. 15 parliamentarians had voted in favor of the motion.

Tuesday’s parliamentary sitting had been attended by only a single parliamentarian from the opposition coalition, composed of Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and PNC. The motion would have passed if all coalition parliamentarians had attended the sitting.