Ahmed Shamah Rasheed, who was sacked as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company (MIFCO) yesterday, has been appointed as the State Minister of Fisheries.

The Privatization and Corporation Board (PCB) sacked Shamah early yesterday evening while he was abroad on an official visit of the Fisheries Ministry.

Shamah has been appointed as the State Minister of Fisheries, a reliable source confirmed to One Online. However, no further details were available.

Before his dismissal, the PCB had suspended Shamah after allegedly raising corporate governance issues against him. The suspension on March 18 was lifted on April 24.

According to a letter sent to Shamah, the PCB was investigating 12 cases against him:

- Use of company resources and facilities for private and political reasons

- Unjustly stripping duties from permanent staff of company, threatening dismissal, lowering positions and pay of permanent staff against the Employment Act, transferring staff to other departments and regional offices against the Employment Act

- Hiring people with familial relations to the CEO to posts against hiring policies and pay structure, even when such actions are not included in the budget

- Hiring individuals to posts under the guise of 'head hunting', against governance polices and employ regulations, and with no job announcements made

- Creation of posts at the company without PCB authorization and appointing persons to these posts

- Hiring unqualified persons as department heads, against set policies

- Disregarding the company's delegation matrix and appointing unrelated staff to run the company when the CEO is travelling on official trips. Additionally, having unrelated staff accompany him on such trips

- Appointing people with connections to the CEO to the company's Bid Committee against best practices

- Allowing non-staff members of the company free access to its premises against security procedures

- Bringing family members to the company offices for non-official reasons

- CEO travelling aboard with no regard to the company's financial status, travelling via business class, and taking along employees unrelated to the work in question on such trips

- Threatening to dissolve the company's internal audit department, and obstructing the department's work