President Mohamed Nasheed said he would be seeking the help of the World Bank’s Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR) to retrieve more than US$2 billion in embezzled funds. Speaking to international journalists yesterday, Nasheed said recovering the money was essential to help the government plug its gaping budget deficit, currently 34 per cent of GDP. “Usually countries start worrying when they go over 14 [per cent],” he said. Nasheed established a commission in May to investigate allegations of rampant corruption in more than 30 audit reports of state institutions under the former president, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. The main opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) have denounced the reports as biased and not based on fact. Asset recovery is an essential part of StAR, a joint UN and World Bank project, and obtains help from developed countries to locate the proceeds of corruption, often stashed away in international financial centres. Speaking yesterday, Nasheed said international help was needed due to an absence of forensic investigative and forensic accounting skills in the country.
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