15 march 2010. Deputy Speaker of Parliament Ahmed Nazim has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to defraud the former ministry of atolls development. At yesterday’s hearing, State Prosecutor Abdullah Rabiu said Nazim was managing Director of Namira Engineering and Trading Pvt Ltd when the company’s equipment and staff were used to create fake letterheads and submit proposals on behalf of unregistered companies. One of the paper companies won a bid worth US$110,000 to provide 15,000 national flags for the former atolls ministry. At a press conference in August last year, Chief Inspector Ismail Atheef said police had uncovered evidence that implicated former Atolls Minister Abdullah Hameed, Eydhafushi MP Ahmed “Redwave” Saleem, former director of finance at the ministry, and Nazim in fraudulent transactions worth over US$260,000 (Mrf 3,446,950). Police exhibited numerous quotations, agreements, tender documents, receipts, bank statements and forged cheques proving that Nazim received over US$400,000 in the scam. Police maintain that money was channelled through the scam to Nazim who laundered cash through Namira Engineering and other unregistered companies.
