In a meeting with Transparency Maldives today, Minister of Environment and Energy, Dr Mariyam Shakeela, welcomed Transparency Maldives’ comments to the proposed Maldives Green Fund (MGF). She assured that due consideration will be given to TM’s proposals.

TM’s comments to the proposed fund were designed to ensure due diligence required to protect climate money against corruption and fraud.

The proposals TM made include setting up an Integrity Unit for Maldives Green Fund to detect, prevent and sanction cases of fraud, corruption and misconduct. TM also proposed seeking wide-ranging political support, including from the People’s Majlis, for the MGF to ensure its sustainability and consolidation at a time of institutional fragility.

When corruption is rampant and when corruption perception is so high, an effective Integrity Unit becomes ever more crucial for a fund handling large sums of public money.

At the meeting, TM welcomed the Ministry’s engagement with stakeholders, but expressed concern that sufficient time was not given to stakeholders to comment on documents of elaborate and technical nature. However, TM compiled and presented a document outlining a number of general comments to the MGF.

The MGF when established will handle climate finance, including donor funds and budgetary, on a range of sectors. These sectors include including renewable energy, energy efficiency, water and waste management. Once established programmes such as Scaling Up of Renewable Energy in Low Income Countries, projected to be worth USD139 million, will come under MGF.