ACC Press conference
18 July 2020
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has stated that it has decided to reopen the investigation into illegitimate oil trade conducted through the State Trading Organisation (STO) during the presidency of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
Member of Parliament (MP) for Maafannu West Constituency, Mohamed Falaah submitted a motion, asserting that an investigative report compiled on the oil trade was ‘hidden’ during the presidential term of Mohamed Waheed because of bribery.
Former president, Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, was alleged to have used STO’s branch in Singapore to conduct black-market oil trade worth USD 800 million during his term as the state-owned company’s chairman.
Subsidized oil was bought through the STO Singapore and sold to the Burmese military junta through an entity called ‘Mocom Trading’.
During the presidency of Mohamed Nasheed, the government contracted Grant Thornton, to conduct the probe into the illegal oil trade. MP for Kaafu Atoll’s Villimale’ constituency and former Deputy Attorney General Ahmed Usham said that Grant Thornton had not finished compiling the final report on the case when the investigative agreement was nullified in 2012. But information and documents on their investigation were handed over by Grant Thornton to the government under the terms of the settlement agreement. ACC confirmed that they have the documents. ACC stated that the case was shelved at the time due to lack of sufficient evidence to conduct an investigation.
The Edition reported.
