Public Service Media (PSM) has decided to hand over the operation of the Munnaaru Channel to the Islamic Ministry.
The decision was made during a PSM board meeting on Sunday. Munnaaru Channel specializes in providing Islamic content.
The handover will be finalized through an agreement between PSM and the Islamic Ministry. The Ministry had earlier announced the planned launching of an Islamic TV channel on January 25.
Munnaaru Channel was launched seven years ago in December 2016 under an agreement with the Islamic Ministry.
The Islamic Ministry allocated MVR 7.9 million to PSM after transferring it from the Zakat Fund to the Waqf Fund.
However, an audit report showed that some of the money had not been used for the operation of the new TV channel.
The report issued by the Audit Office in November 2018 said that out of the MVR 7.9 million paid to PSM by the Islamic Ministry, MVR 1,638,533 had been spent till October 2018.
The report noted that there should be a balance of MVR 6,265,180 from the money given to run the channel.
However, only MVR 4,805,606 was remaining and it is unclear what happened to MVR 1,459,574 from the allocated budget.
