The Attorney General’s Office has decided to withdraw several lawsuits in connection with the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) scandal.
In a statement issued by Attorney General’s Office, 39 lawsuits were filed by various parties to recover the lost funds. The statement said the office has separately studied the evidence and supporting documentation for the 39 cases and decided to withdraw 35 lawsuits. In this regard, Attorney General’s Office revealed it has requested at the Civil Court to withdraw 35 lawsuits submitted in connection with the MMPRC scandal in efforts to revise the lawsuits.
Attorney General’s Office expressed it will swiftly reinvestigate and resubmit the concluded findings to the Civil Court with the assistance of Presidential Commission on Corruption and Asset Recovery, Maldives Police Service, Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to recover the loss to the state.
In 2015, ACC launched an investigation into the MMPRC case, the biggest embezzlement scandal in recent Maldivian history. ACC had revealed over USD 91.9 million had been embezzled through the state tourism promotion company. ACC stated even though the investigation found over USD 71.5 million was received from leased islands and lagoons, only USD 12.5 million were deposited to the bank account of MMPRC.