Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer has said that there was no influence of corruption in awarding projects by the state.

Minister Ameer made the statement at a time when ADK Trade and Shipping had sent a letter to the Parliament Committee and the Ministry over the Health Ministry's decision to award seeking 15 ambulances to an Indian company.

Speaking to the press today, the Minister said that this government would not tolerate any acts of corruption or ones that would violate the rights of another. He further added that the Ministry would welcome any decision such as requesting the ACC to look into the issue at hand to determine whether corruption was a part of it or not.

The Minister also highlighted the fact that unlike previous governments, the current administration has been publicising lists of projects awarded by the National Tender Board. This was one of the government policies to maintain transparency.

Minister Ameer noted that state projects are usually managed by the Ministry which is responsible for the project, unless a project exceeds a budget of MVR 2.5 million. In such a case, the project comes under the Finance Ministry.

As such, the Ministry had requested to bring in the ambulances within 59 to 89 days for MVR 7.9 million. However, the Indian company proposed to bring in the ambulances within 90 days for MVR 8.7 million.

Stressing on the fact that the secretariat of the National Tender Board is managed by the Finance Ministry, the Minister said that the Ministry only handles the financial evaluation of these projects. The technical evaluations are conducted by responsible companies.

As such, the government prioritises the technical evaluation more instead of opting for the party which proposes the least time frame with the least cost.