The Maldives anti-corruption watchdog has ruled out any corruption in the deal to award the country's only operational international airport to Indian infrastructure giant GMR group, a media report said Tuesday.
The $511 million project was abruptly cancelled by the Maldivian government in November 2012.
The Anti-Corruption Commission's 61-page investigation report into alleged corruption in the leasing of the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport to GMR by the previous administration declared that there was no corruption involved in the bid evaluation phase of the deal, Xinhua reported citing Haveeru online.
The report said GMR had offered the highest concession fee and scored the highest marks in the bid to develop and operate the airport for 25 years.
It said a concession agreement was signed between the government, GMR consortium and Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL), which ruled out any grounds for corruption.
In November 2012, the Maldives government prematurely terminated the 25-year agreement with GMR to develop and operate the airport.
The MACL took over operations from GMR Dec 7, after the Singapore Supreme Court ruled that the Maldives government had the authority to expropriate the airport from GMR.
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