Adhadhu has learnt that a company was contracted at a high price to digitize all documents at the Male' city council before a fire burnt down three ministries, land registries and birth registries.
The work was awarded through an announcement made during President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu's mayorship. It invited bids to scan documents for the implementation of the digitization project, which is an objective of the council's Strategic Action Plan.
The city council announced that all documents in all departments, sections and units will be scanned. All these documents should be organized in the right folders and uploaded. The announcement also stated that 14 people would be hired for the project.
The work was awarded to Accutize Private Limited under the announcement. The company's Managing Directors are Road Development Corporation (RDC) Deputy Managing Director Mohamed Asbah and businessman Hussain Sofwan.
Accutize Private Limited was tasked with completing the work within three months. But the work carried on for years and remains incomplete. However, sources within the city council said the company was paid MVR 4.5 million for the project.
Accutize Private Limited was repeatedly contacted to confirm this figure. However, the company refused to respond.
Adhadhu spoke to officials from various ranks of the city council about the project. Some staff believe the purpose of the project was to give money to the company.
"Otherwise, there is no reason why a three-month project should last for several years. They brought in some staff for the project. However, all the equipment, including the scanner, was provided by the city council. And the work was incomplete," a staff said.
Officials from Accutize Private Limited also confirmed that resources were provided by the city council. However, they blamed the city council for the incomplete work.
"We were working with the documents they gave us. We repeatedly asked for more documents," an official from Accutize Private Limited said on condition of anonymity.
The company said more than 1 million papers have been scanned and stored within three years. They are documents from 2016 onwards.
While the city council awarded the contract to digitally archive documents in 2021, some staff said all documents were being scanned and stored from 2020 onwards.
So it is believed that Accutize Private Limited worked with documents from 2016 to 2020.
The city council's announcement shows that the work was awarded to Accutize Private Limited after no companies responded to the initial announcement. It is unclear how many companies submitted bids under the second announcement.
This is not the first time this has happened in the city council during President Muizzu's tenure as mayor. The Aasaharaa cemetery was also commissioned to be demolished for repair work. After six months of unfinished work, the contract was cancelled but a payment of MVR 3.9 million had been provided.
