The government has refused to change its stance that Bank of Maldives (BML) orchestrated a coup.
This was reiterated by Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Mohamed Saeed while speaking at a press conference held at the President’s Office on Tuesday.
A journalist from RaajjeTV questioned whether the government still believes that the country’s national bank staged a coup, as the government's continued assertion of this could negatively impact public perception of BML.
Further, the journalist questioned whether or not this wouldn't be detrimental to efforts to attract foreign investments to the Maldives.
The RaajjeTV journalist also inquired about cost-cutting measures and the appointment of individuals to political positions, given that the Maldives' Fitch rating has been downgraded.
The journalist also asked what kind of green signals the government has received while working on bringing a Foreign Investment Act into existence.
In response, Minister Saeed asserted that this government “does not give different colored signals”, pushing that Maldivian citizens must be prioritized whether it is BML or any other bank.
The minister added that President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu prioritizes protecting SMEs and students studying abroad.
He however noted that BML does not interact with the government, but with the central bank, Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA).
Saeed asserted that he did not want to interfere in that conversation and raised the question of whether journalists had forgotten the extent of involvement by financial institutions during the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) embezzlement scandal.
In addition to this, Saeed touched upon the work of the Development Bank.
“Don’t talk about green signals, red signals and yellow signals. I don’t think we will make progress by talking about that. I will answer your question. A Development Bank in the Maldives' history is something that has been attempted since the memory of Ibrahim Nasir. Today, for the first time, a Stanford graduate and many internationally renowned experts have been brought for the establishment of a Development Bank”Mohamed Saeed, Economic Minister.
The Maldives Police Service (MPS) recently launched an investigation into the alleged attempt to topple the government, following a sudden decision by BML to halt foreign transactions on cards linked to Maldivian Rufiyaa accounts.
The police institution said that there have been reports linking allegations that bot accounts were used to rouse the public to take to the streets to topple the government, to an attempt to illegally overthrow the government.
MPS revealed that they were in the process of collecting all necessary information and studying all aspects of the investigation in detail.
Further MPS assured the public that they are working to identify if action is required to be taken against anyone and that all the necessary work is being done as part of the investigation process.
Ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) scheduled a gathering after sundown on August 26, where President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu and Minister of Fisheries and Ocean Resources Ahmed Shiyam publicly shed the spotlight on the “attempted coup” allegations.
Within 10 minutes of Shiyam’s public statement linking BML’s decision to an attempt to overthrow the government, the police institution released a statement confirming that they had begun an investigation into the attempted coup.
MPS revealed that the announcement made by the country’s national bank for which a majority of shares are held by the government, came as a shock to the public and coincided with a press conference held by some politicians revolving around the incumbent administration’s financial situation.
MPS noted that the BML’s decision would cause several inconveniences to the public and was announced against the government’s discussions and at the same time, “hundreds” of “bot” accounts on social media began encouraging the public to take to the streets to overthrow the government.
The police institution launched the probe as there was room to believe that there was an attempt to illegally overthrow a lawful administration, after disrupting public peace and compromising national security.
In an earlier press conference, the government announced that BML’s decision was made against the discussions held regarding the matter.
After churning public chaos with its decision to suspend foreign transactions through debit cards, BML took a U-turn on the decision mere hours later.
In a publication on August 25, the country’s national bank confirmed that the changes to card limits for foreign transactions announced earlier that day were reversed based on instructions from their regulator, the central bank, MMA.
BML revealed that the changes were initially brought in response to the increasing use of foreign currency on cards and the static scale of foreign currency to BML.
As such, the allowance for foreign transactions for existing debit cards linked to Maldivian Rufiyaa accounts was suspended. Allowances for foreign transactions for new debit and credit cards linked to MVR accounts were also suspended and the monthly limit for foreign transactions on existing standard and gold credit cards was limited to USD 100.
