Male’ Taxi app faces possible parliamentary probe over allegations of corruption

Mohamed Ibrahim (Kudu), a parliamentarian from the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), has filed a motion seeking a parliamentary inquiry into allegations of corruption linked to the mobile app developed for the Male’ Taxi Line.

The Male’ Taxi Line, a 24/7 public taxi service operated by the Maldives Transport and Contracting Company (MTCC), was launched along with a dedicated mobile application on April 2. But issues with the app led to it having to be taken down, with customers asked to book their rides through the 1655 phone hotline.

Allegations soon emerged on social media that the contract to develop the app was awarded unfairly at an inflated price.

On Tuesday, Kudu, the representative for North Galolhu constituency, filed a formal request asking to have an inquiry conducted on these allegations through the relevant parliamentary committee.

Kudu asked the Parliament to seek answers to key questions surrounding the mobile app, including why the bidding was limited to invited suppliers, who these invited suppliers were, and what the selection standards employed were, the special criteria or capabilities prioritized in the selection process, whether the contractor selected for the project had prior experience in such projects, and to share any supporting documents that were submitted with the Parliament.

He also asked the Parliament to investigate whether the MTCC’s IT department had any involvement in the project, and what that involvement entailed, and whether all legal formalities and board policies were followed in awarding the contract.

Kudu said that while MTCC’s procurement policy requires tender proposals to be evaluated by a tender evaluation committee composed of an odd number of members, he has learnt that the evaluation on the app was carried out by an evaluation committee selected in violation of this policy. He asked the Parliament to investigate who authorized this committee.

Kudu also said that given the MVR 13 million tender is a technical one, standard practice dictates that a sub-committee is formed for evaluation if the main tender committee lacks expertise on the matter, and the main committee bases its decision on the recommendations of the subcommittee. He asked the Parliament to check if this was followed, and to obtain relevant documents providing it was followed.

Kudu said that given inquiries for procurement are sent only to those on the MTCC’s suppliers’ registry, he asked for the Parliament to obtain document evidence on which the list of invited suppliers and the company’s suppliers’ registry was merged.

He also asked the Parliament to obtain document evidence proving the contractor has any experience in the work written in the scope of the tender, and to check whether it was the company's board or management which decided to develop a separate new app that duplicates the functions of the existing RTL app, and to obtain the minutes of the meeting where this decision was made.

Kudu said that he finds it deeply troubling that a state-owned enterprise spent millions on an app, which would have been developed in-house given technological advancements.

The MTCC has yet to provide an official response to the allegations.