Скачать или смотреть MMPRC, Power, and the Politics of Pardon: How Impunity Survived Three Presidents

The Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) corruption scandal has often been described as a crime of the past — a stain belonging to the administration of former President Abdulla Yameen and his Vice President Ahmed Adeeb. Yet this framing is increasingly difficult to sustain. As years have passed, one uncomfortable reality has become clear: the MMPRC scandal did not end with Yameen’s fall from power, nor with Ahmed Adeeb’s conviction. It survived — and arguably matured — under the leadership that promised reform.

At the center of this continuity lies President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

During Yameen’s presidency, MMPRC was transformed from a tourism marketing body into a conduit for one of the largest financial diversions in Maldivian history. Funds generated from leasing islands and lagoons — assets owned collectively by the Maldivian people — were siphoned away from the state treasury. Billions of rufiyaa that should have been used for public services disappeared through opaque transactions, underpriced leases, and off-ledger payments.

Ahmed Adeeb, then Tourism Minister and later Vice President, was a central figure in this machinery. In 2020, he admitted guilt to multiple charges, including embezzlement, money laundering, abuse of office, and influence peddling. A court sentenced him to 20 years in prison. The facts were established. The guilt was confessed. Justice, it seemed, had finally arrived.