Deputy minister: Failure to properly penalize councils for corruption sending ‘wrong message’

Mohamed Arif, a deputy minister at the Ministry of Cities, Local Government and Public Works, has expressed concern over the failure to take effective action against acts of corruption by local councils – something that he said is sending the wrong message.

In an appearance on SSTV’s ‘Baaru Hathareh’ show on Monday night, Arif said the ministry’s mandate is limited to counselling councils regarding proper budget spending.

Councils receive an annual block grant from the state budget to spend at their discretion.

“This means they receive a grant envelope. Unlike other state institutions, they are not given a budget plan. If MVR 1 million goes into the grant envelope, then they get the MVR 1 million in lumpsum by January 15 each year. It is the councils that will decide how much they will set aside for salaries and other expenses,” he said.

 He noted that the Decentralization Act sets down policies on dealing with acts of corruption by councils.

He said that it is the responsibility of atoll councils to monitor the operations of local councils under their purview, and to report misuse of state funds to the Local Government Authority (LGA).

Arif said that the LGA is mandated with monitoring and regulating spending by local councils, and that the authority has penalized councils for financial irregularities.

“But they cannot do anything beyond suspending council members. They do not have the authority to send such cases to the court or anywhere else. They need to report it to the Anti-Corruption Commission,” he said.

 Arif expressed concern over lack of effective action even in corruption cases sent to the Prosecutor General’s Office for criminal prosecution.

He referred to a case uncovered in a LGA monitoring report involving the deposit of MVR 2 million from the budget of the R. Dhuvaafaru Council to the private bank accounts of some of the council’s members and staff during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The case, which came to light in 2022, was investigated by the ACC and sent to the PGO for criminal charges. But in 2023, the PGO decided against pursuing criminal charges and settled on a reprimand.

Arif said that this sets a dangerous precedent.

“This set a precedent that councilors can get away with a mere reprimand for acts of corruption. This does not serve as a deterrent to councils. I believe this needs to be addressed,” he said.

Earlier in December, the Auditor General’s Office asked for action after members of the HDh. Atoll Council spent MVR 952,885 on a trip to Bangkok in 2023, but failed to produce any benefits from the visit.

And last week, the Auditor General’s Office also asked for action after an audit uncovered MVR 500,000 in missing funds from the AA. Maalhos Council.