Major (Retired) Mohamed Najah has been named the new managing director of Fenaka Corporation, hours after his predecessor, Mohamed Muaz Rasheed, stepped down citing insurmountable challenges.

The Privatization and Corporatization Board (PCB) announced Najah’s appointment in a statement issued Monday afternoon.

Najah, who served in the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) before retiring, previously held the position of assistant general manager at Happy Market, one of the country’s leading wholesale distributors.

He now takes charge of Fenaka Corporation, a state utility company burdened by significant financial and operational difficulties.

In a statement announcing his resignation, Muaz expressed frustration at the “impossible” state of affairs during his tenure, which spanned just over a year.

He highlighted key challenges, including a staggering MVR 4.3 billion in debt at the time of his appointment, a severe mismatch in cash flow, and the corporation's overstaffing due to external pressures.

He also pointed to a lack of cooperation from relevant authorities to streamline operations and the backlog caused by years of inadequate maintenance of utility services across multiple islands.

Muaz inherited a corporation considered one of the most indebted and inefficient among state-owned enterprises.

Fenaka owes billions to the State Trading Organization (STO) for oil supplies alone and has been implicated in numerous corruption allegations, with several cases under investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

Previous government efforts to restructure Fenaka, including a proposal to integrate it under STO, were abandoned.