Ahmed Shamah Rasheed, the CEO of the state-owned fisheries company MIFCO, has been suspended.
The Privatization and Corporatization Board (PCB) stated that the CEO has been temporarily sidelined from his position. He was suspended after corporate governance-related issues were submitted to the PCB, in order to conduct a full inquiry, taking into consideration the circumstances under Article 25 (b) (1) of the rules regarding the code of conduct, submission of complaints, and taking action against directors of state-owned enterprises.
Accordingly, the PCB stated that he has been temporarily sidelined from his official responsibilities for a period of 14 days starting today.
Previously, the PCB had also highlighted many concerns regarding the management of MIFCO and instructed the company to rectify them. Among the issues highlighted by the PCB were the blatant use of company property and resources for personal and political purposes, unfairly removing permanent employees from their job responsibilities, workplace intimidation, demoting and reducing the salaries of employees in permanent positions without any reason contrary to the Employment Act, and transferring employees to other departments and islands where company sites are located without cause.
In addition, it was also highlighted that, contrary to the policies and salary structure established for hiring company employees, jobs were given to individuals with family ties to the CEO and friends before the budget was arranged. Furthermore, contrary to best practices and governance principles, under the guise of headhunting, employees were brought in against employee regulations, without regard to any requirements, without public announcement, and without completing procedures. The PCB also noted the creation of company positions and the hiring of people for those positions without obtaining PCB permission, and the appointment of individuals without adequate education and experience as heads of departments, contrary to the rules.
