Maldives mission in SL audited on request of FM

Foreign minister Dhunya Maumoon on Wednesday said she had personally requested a special audit of the Maldives High Commission in Sri Lanka. Speaking to Haveeru after an audit flagged several financial irregularities, the minister said the request for the audit had been made in May 2014 to ensure that the mission's finances were being handled within the regulations. "Before I came, a lot of things in the ministry and the missions had been negelected during president [Mohamed] Nasheed's tenure. There had been a lot of pending bills," she said. The mission was audited from 2011 to 2013. According to Dhunya, complaints had mounted over unsettled bills to several hospitals and hotels in Sri Lanka. She stressed that the bills were from former president Mohamed Nasheed's government which had caused great embarrassment to the Maldives government and its people. "I tried to resolve the issues after I joined during president Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik's tenure. Now we have managed to settle every last payment owed to all the Lankan institutions. The report had mostly flagged violations in using state funds for repair and maintenance, employee remuneration and unpaid bills. Unauthorized withdrawals from the mission's bank accounts were also highlighted in the report. (Haveeru Online)