Former Chairperson of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Fayyaz Ismail, has said that the allegations made by former Controller of Immigration Shamman Waheed—claiming the current administration is engaged in an illegal quota trade led by Home Minister Ali Ihusaan—are true.
Shamman made these remarks while speaking to reporters outside the Criminal Court shortly before being sentenced to 25 years in prison for money laundering and robbery. He alleged high-level government involvement in a massive corruption scandal involving the sale of expatriate quotas.
In a post on X, Fayyaz asserted that while the MDP government had halted the illegal quota trade, the current administration has revived it. He further claimed that Shamman was imprisoned for exposing these activities.
"Shamman has revealed the true reality of this government. Today, he was sentenced to prison for bringing the truth to light. After the MDP government put a stop to the illegal quota trade, this administration restarted it," Fayyaz said.
Highlighting that the government had sold the Maldives' border control system to a Malaysian company to facilitate this illegal trade, Fayyaz described the move as an act of corruption involving billions of Rufiyaa. He further alleged that senior government officials were complicit in the scheme.
