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| The Anti-Corruption Commission , Maldives |
If you want to know who is behind
the dirty politics, follow the money trail. Maldives has fallen prey
to dirty politics. Some have fallen victims (those who did not want to
join the dirty politics) and those who stood to benefit (those who joined the dirty
political band wagon). Amongst the many that joined the dirty politics,
was the very institution that was set up to follow the money trail and catch
the dirty politicians systematically. It became the arm that assist and provide cover for the
dirty politicians. Is this the mission for which the ANTI CORRUPTION COMMISSION of Maldives was setup?
Today it is popularly known among Maldivians
as the BRIBE COMMISSION. It is headed by
Mohamed Luthufi who once worked as an auditor and became tantalized with huge amounts
of money that was siphoned by the Government officials. Luthufi made it his
objective in life to get into the commission to be part of this siphoning of
state funds.
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| Rufiyaa Changes Hands in ACC |
Luthuli was selected to the Anti-Corruption
Commission by the opposition parties during President Nasheed's Administration, to
steer the course of the independent institutions to a moral setting and
exposing corruption in government. President Nasheed ingeniously saw it as a plus point to archive his goals of
destroying Maldives, been a descendent of the rouge family that failed to
bring about a revolution despite several attempts.
Members of the ACC or Bribe
Commission as commonly known, like Muaffiz, Abdulla Hilmy, Khadija, had corrupt records and they had mastered the art of indulgence
keeping themselves aloof of the law. Nasheed's decision may have been based on his conviction of the old
saying, "set a thief to catch a thief". Unfortunately these thieves
did not catch thieves, they joined the bandwagon and facilitated the campaign of terrorizing civil servants by aiding
and abetting corrupt rouges.
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| Members of Anti-Corruption Commission summoned to Parliament Sub Committee to Account for Corruption Charges levied against the Commission - 2012. |
Today the Anti-Corruption
Commission members has collecting agents, (just like the mafia when they were
forming in their initial stages), who threatened innocent workers and have corruption
cases filed with the corrupt Anti-Corruption Commission, and promise any such
case would be smoothed out if a payment could be made.
Innocent civil servants wonder in panic
what it would take to protect their reputation; many would agree to pay an amount.
But those adamant would stick to their virtues and refuse to pay any bribe to
the commission's agents. Such civil servants would face the wrath of the Commission
and they would move to implicate the victims with some bygone issue or incident
even without a proper basis by concluding that the Commission saw it as
corruption without even undertaking a proper investigation. Then, in a calculated effort to assassinate the
character of such persons, ACC would make announcements over the public media
implicating and threatening victims with the possibility of having the charges
pressed through the Prosecutor General.
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| Prosecutor-General Mr. Muizz |
The proceeds of the bribe collected
by the erratic behavior of ACC are shared with some very distinguished parliamentarians.
Statistics show that almost 70 % of the so called cases put forward by ACC is
thrown out by the court. It is a true manifestation that what ACC does of just
dusting the Pompeii.
Corruption can be defined as misuse of power derived from your official portfolio for private gain or
advantage. Isn't this what the Members of the ACC is actually doing? This is the state of our nation living the love story
with its new found democracy. The organization established eradicate corruption
in Maldives is the very organization blackmailing ordinary working citizens and
collecting bribes for their personal gain.
Ordinary Maldivians believe that the appointment
of the present ACC with Hassan Luthufi as its leader, corruption in Maldives
has increased by 56 percent. Bribes paid off to ACC officials increased by 34
percent and surprisingly was from the lowest income quintile. Transparency
International’s survey evidently referred to people who responded that they
paid the bribes to ACC to avoid a problem with the authorities. The report also
indicated that 90 percent of people thought that ordinary people can make a
difference by standing up to the treats of ACC, and refuse to pay bribes
