Abbas: ACC has to wake up from “lazy slumber”

Maldives Development Alliance (MDA)’s Velidhoo MP Mohamed Abbas, citing the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) needs to wake up from its “lazy slumber”, has emphasized the need to ensure members of the commission are fulfilling their responsibilities.

He made the remark while debating on the matter of the appointment of a president and vice president to ACC during Monday’s parliamentary sitting.

In this regard, Abbas said incumbent ACC members are no different from former members, adding they are “asleep” amid huge corruption scandals such as the corruption involving POLCO with respect to the police flats, corruption within state-owned Fenaka Corporation, unjust settlement agreements and ventilator corruption.

For these reasons, Abbas said he does not believe ACC independently-run. 

“Honorable Speaker, ACC is not a commission that should just be active within the four boundaries of Male’. ACC needs to be active across the nation. Honorable Speaker, ACC needs to probe the corruption unfolding within island councils too,” he said.

On the contrary, Abbas described incumbent ACC members as “protected individuals who sit idle in airconditioned rooms while benefitting from taxpayer money”.

He underscored the need for ACC to members to become more responsible than at present and the need to strengthen the institution.

“They need to wake up from that lazy slumber. ACC is asleep whenever who is government wipes the state. Honorable Speaker, they are not fulfilling their legally mandated responsibilities,” he stressed.

Abbas accused ACC members of only becoming active when it is necessary to protect their positions, noting that this behavior was also seen when the current administration took office.

He said it is the public that is subject to the results of the ACC's incompetence, with many struggling despite the Maldives being a revenue-generating country.

As such, he called to ensure ACC is a responsible institution and in this trajectory, argued that if all theft and corruption in the Maldives were investigated, the country and its citizens would flourish.