Following the largest corruption case in the history of the Maldives, the $380 million FPID case, then President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom formed the first corruption watchdog on 21^st April 1991 as the Anti-Corruption Board with just 6 employees. The Anti-Corruption Board was later empowered and restructured into a commission on 24^th April 2008 under the new constitution and the Anti-Corruption Commission Act.

However, for the first time since it’s inception in 1991, under President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s administration the Anti-Corruption Commission has been left in a status of legal limbo- incapacitated as the entirety of the commission members were effectively forced to resign.

On 16^th December 2021 Anti-Corruption Commission member Ibrahim Shakeel resigned from his post followed by the rest of the commission on 27^th December 2021 leaving the anti-graft watchdog without any commission members or directives.

The resignation of the commission members came after the Parliament conducted a questionable performance audit of the commission. The performance audit was conducted on the commission’s performance from 2015 till 30^st July 2020. This would mean that of the 67 months of performance reviewed in the audit, the sitting commission members were active for only 10 months.

While the sitting commission members were held responsible for the performance of their predecessors and was forced to answer for a performance review spanning 67 months of which they had been appointed and in office for only 14.9% of the timespan.

Prior to her resignation, on 09^th December 2021 President of the ACC Mariyam Shiuna spoke at the ceremony held to inaugurate the National Anti-Corruption Policy, at which she made serious accusations against the current administration. The former Transparency Maldives Executive Director turned ACC President Mariyam Shiuna accused the government of influencing the commission and obstructing them from executing their duties and mandate. She stated that “We are working with a lot of challenges. What I want to say is that, we need the space to work independently.”

The local chapter of the global anti-corruption advocacy group Transparency Maldives published a statement accusing the current administration and the Parliament of influencing the commission. They accused the current administration and the ruling party led parliament of “directly” influencing the commission.

While the accusations by the former members and a credible advocacy group stands, the current administration has remained silent, conforming to President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s policy on dealing with corruption within his government, that is to become blind, mute and deaf until another fiasco takes over the headlines. President Solih’s now famous slogan of zero tolerance to corruption now seemingly leans more towards zero-tolerance to anti-corruption.

The forced resignation of ACC members and the subsequent paralysis of the entire institution comes at a time when the commission was investigating multiple corruption cases within the current administration. The infamous ventilator corruption case along with other cases against sitting cabinet ministers and even the Attorney General of Maldives have meant that the Commission had become a thorn in the side of the corrupt.

Moreover, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih is yet to greenlight on announcing the application for replacing the vacant commission member slots at the ACC. Traditionally the applications would be opened up immediately upon resignation or removal of a commission member.

While the commission is left incapacitated, the current administration has taken advantage of its status and proceeded to award multiple major projects with many allegations of corruption. Since the incapacitation of the ACC by the current administration and the ruling party led parliament, the current administration has awarded projects worth over MVR 934.4 million within just 8 days, an unprecedented rate for the current administration.

Among these projects include the awarding of a project which was filed at the ACC for an alleged act of corruption due to which the state would lose MVR 150 million.

Regardless of his tolerance to corruption and his indifferent attitude towards rampant corruption and sexual harassment within his administration, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih needs to be held accountable for enabling the vacancy of the commission and the delay in re-nominating members for the commission. President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih will be marked as the President who enabled the incapacitation and vacancy of the Anti-Corruption Commission of Maldives.