PCB’s vice president under investigation for campaigning for PNC

The Parliament’s State-owned Enterprises (SOE) Committee has launched an inquiry in response to allegations Mohamed Firaz, the vice president of the Privatization and Corporatization Board (PCB), was involved in campaigning for the main ruling People’s National Congress (PNC).

The president and vice president of the PCB are prohibited from registering with political parties and getting actively involved in politics. The SOE Committee, in an earlier meeting, had expressed concern that Firaz allegedly signed with the PNC last year.

The case was filed with the SOE Committee by Vilufushi MP Hassan Afeef, a top politician from the Democrats. Afeef asked the committee to clarify through the Elections Commission (EC) if Firaz is registered with a political party, and if he is no longer a member of a political party, exactly which political party he was last registered with and when he left the party.

Central Mafannu MP Ibrahim Rasheed (Bonde) also proposed looking into whether Firaz was actively involved in a political activity. He proposed checking his social media accounts to see if he ever endorsed and campaigned for a political candidate.

At a meeting on Monday, the committee’s chair, Kendhikulhudhoo MP Ahmed Easa said Firaz shared campaign posts on his social media.

“If this is the social media account of the PCB’s vice president, then he was actively involved in politics. There’s still a post written in Dhivehi on his wall, asking people to vote for a candidate,” he said.

Easa said that the committee must check whether it is Firaz’s account or an account opened in his name by someone else.

The committee voted to investigate the case with the vote of four members.

Firaz was appointed to the PCB during the former administration. The other members of the board were appointed during the incumbent administration.