Anti-graft watchdog seeks charges against 3 over Covid reagents

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has asked the Prosecutor General's (PG) office to levy corruption charges against Dr Ali Abdulla Latheef and the then CEO of IGMH for contracting a private company with their interests to procure reagents or chemicals used in the laboratory for testing for Covid-19.

The ACC said in a statement that they had awarded the contract to a company called RMLS Lab Services to procure the reagents needed for the test. The investigation has found that the company is a business in which Latheef has an interest.

At the time, Latheef was the chairman of the procurement committee, a member of the medical executive committee and a member of the technical advisory committee.

The ACC said that the investigation revealed that the company was awarded the contract for the supply of chemicals through abuse of position.

Besides Latheef, the other persons whom the ACC has requested to prosecute in the case are:

The ACC also alleged that RMLS Lab Services, in which Latheef had an interest, had committed money laundering. The commission has now forwarded to the police a money laundering investigation against the company and Latheef as a separate case.