A case has been filed with the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) over the Paris Olympic scholarship funds awarded to national badminton team player Nibal Ahmed and the salary paid to the national badminton team's South Korean coach Jang Ki-Yun.
Revival Sports Club filed the case against the Badminton Association of Maldives (BAM) for allegedly mismanaging Nibal's scholarship fund and coach Ki-young's salary. The ACC has registered the case.
Nibal is a recipient of the Paris Olympic scholarship from the Maldives Olympic Committee (MOC). Every four months, the MOC deposits the Olympic scholarship money (total of USD 6000) to the BAM account at the rate of USD 1500 each month. Under the scholarship agreement, BAM must arrange the athlete's affairs properly.
The MOC paid the money for the first four months of this year to the BAM earlier this month. However, BAM gave Nibal only USD 1,700 and the remaining USD 4,300 was reimbursed to the BAM's budget as expenses for Nibal.
A month before the Indian Ocean Island Games (IOIG) in 2023, the national team went to a tournament in Mauritius. USD 3270 from Nibal's Paris Olympic scholarship money had been spent on the national team's accommodation, entry fees, meals and 14 events.
The BAM received MVR 938,050 from the Sports Ministry as the salary for coach Ki-Yun who was hired for the national badminton team, but he had allegedly not been paid the full amount.
The Revival Sports Club also alleged BAM of using Nibal's scholarship funds in violation of the rules to pay the salaries of the coach Ki-Yun. They noted the amount allocated for the coach's salary is MVR 938,050 (USD 60,833).
That is USD 6,083 per month for 10 months. But the coach was paid USD 2000 per month until November last year and was told his salary would increase to USD 4000 from December.
However, he was paid USD 3000 starting in December and has been earning USD 4000 as a salary since June this year.
Nishant Kautheckar, who coached the national badminton team in 2018, also said on social media that the BAM had acted in contravention of the agreement signed with him.
The Commissioner of Sports Mohamed Tholal recently handed over the management of BAM to the Sports Council. The decision came five months after the term of the last executive board of BAM ended.
Nibal also sent a letter to the Sports Council, which is currently in charge of BAM, sharing his concerns about the scholarship funds.
The ACC is investigating a separate corruption case involving the last executive board of BAM.
