Travel bans have been imposed on the Road Development Corporation (RDC)’s former Managing Director Moosa Ali Manik and its former Chief Financial Officer Yasir Hassan in connection with a corruption case being investigated by the Maldives Police Service (MPS). The travel ban was imposed under a court order.
According to the case, significant sums of RDC funds were deposited into the personal accounts of some senior officials of the then-ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and companies linked to them. While USD 907,965 in RDC funds entered the personal account of a top official at RDC, the funds were circulated through the accounts of three other individuals. Of this, USD 713,400 was deposited into the account of one of the three individuals while USD 259,340 was transferred into the accounts of two others.
MPS disclosed that 216 transactions were made to a single suspect from the RDC account. With each of these transaction reportedly linked to multiple other transactions with several other individuals, this necessitates further investigation into each of these associated accounts.
On 27 December, police searched the residences of Moosa Ali Manik and Yasir Hassan, seizing several electronic devices. However, the details of the confiscated items were not disclosed.