Maldives Police Service has revealed that 16 sitting lawmakers and seven senior government officials received money from the MMPRC Corruption Scandal.

Speaking during a press conference regarding the case, Assistant Commissioner of Police Mohamed Riyaz said that based on current findings, senior government officials of the previous government and the incumbent government as well as lawmakers of the 19th session along with the 18th session had received funds that were embezzled from MMPRC.

People involved in the embezzlement had revealed that 44 lawmakers from the 18th session and 16 lawmakers from the 19th session were provided funds from the embezzled money on various occasions for various reasons.

ACP Riyaz highlighted that there were transactions that confirmed said people receiving these funds.

In addition to these lawmakers, 23 senior government officials from the previous administration and seven officials from the incumbent government along with five members from independent institutions back then had received money as well.

8 judges including former and current, had also received these funds along with 7 officers from security forces.

ACP Riyaz further noted that the money began being utilized around the time when the 2014 Parliamentary Election was announced. The money was used during the primaries, campaigns and was also used to elect a Speaker for the parliament. The money further influenced several major decisions made by the parliament, such as passing bills to amend the constitution.

However, the ACP stressed that it was difficult to say whether all those who received the funds had participated in the scandal and noted that a further investigation will be carried out to determine whether any of the receivers knew the origin source of the funds that they received.