Economic Crime Department’s chief Rajnee suspended

The Maldives Police Service has temporarily assigned a new head to the Economic Crime Investigation, after putting its previous head, Superintendent of Police Rajunee Shuaib on administrative leave.

Rajunee was recently seen leading the press briefing regarding the alleged awarding of land plots under ‘Binveriya’ housing scheme to those who were not in the list of recipients.

The Superintendent is facing allegations of acquiring a flat from Vinares unlawfully. Documents related to said allegation have been making rounds on social media as well.

This was followed by several netizens claiming Rajunee’s involvement in said allegation would dampen the criminal investigation into the social housing scheme corruption.

Following this, Police Spokesperson, the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Shifan said on Saturday that the authority was looking into the allegations made against the Superintendent.

Shifan, in a post on X later on Saturday, confirmed Rajunee was removed from the Economic Crime Investigation to ensure credibility of the department in its investigation into alleged corruption in ‘Binveriya’ and ‘Gedhoruveriya’ schemes.

Shifan however, said that Rajunee’s removal from the department was reflective of any misconduct by the officer.

The Housing Development Corporation (HDC) faced fresh corruption allegations on Saturday, with leaked documents appearing to show that multiple individuals were issued apartments from Vinares based on fake payment slips to SeaLife Global after it was decided to compensate victims of the SeaLife scam with apartments.

A credible source told Sun that people who were not victims of SeaLife were also given apartments at Vinares under this agreement using forged payment slips.