Fenaka’s Debt Climbs 379% Due to Corruption, Audit Report Reveals

Fenaka Corporation’s debt ballooned by 379 percent over the past five years due to corruption and mismanagement, according to a damning audit report released by the Auditor General’s Office.

The report, unveiled around midnight by Auditor General Hussain Niyazy, concluded that Fenaka’s financial downfall was not the result of insufficient income or state subsidies for tariff losses. Instead, it pointed to deliberate actions by the company’s management, including wasteful spending and corrupt procurement practices.

By the end of 2023, Fenaka had spent an estimated MVR 767.3 million more than the market rate on projects such as new powerhouses and office buildings, the report found. The company also paid MVR 287 million above necessary costs in contracts for generators, cables, and transformers. Notably, what was imported under the guise of “new generators” turned out to be refurbished old ones.

“The corporation’s financial situation has been deteriorating year by year since 2019,” the report stated, adding that unpaid debts and liabilities grew rapidly due to “large, untimely, and unnecessary expenditures disproportionate to Fenaka’s financial capacity.” The Auditor General further emphasized that the crisis appears to have been “deliberately brought about” rather than being a natural consequence of business operations.

The report underscores that almost every major expenditure Fenaka made in recent years was marred by corruption, with hundreds of millions of rufiyaa lost. It highlights that the company’s financial mismanagement has left it in a precarious state, raising serious concerns about accountability and oversight during the past administration.