Authorities have frozen the bank accounts of Yacht Tours Maldives, owned by former lawmaker and well known businessman, Abdulla Jabir.

The company's bank accounts were frozen on Thursday.

When RaajjeMV contacted Jabir for a comment on the matter, Jabir said that their accounts were frozen over “a tax issue”, adding that the case is currently in Court.

“They cannot freeze the bank accounts while the case is being tried at Court,” he said.

Jabir said that such a decision can only be made after the Court’s ruling, alleging that authorities have been influencing institutions.

“What we are seeing in Maldives now is, the Tourism Minister, with just one phone call, is getting the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) to ask the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) to freeze the accounts of businesses. This has become such an easy thing, despite these companies having hundreds of employees,” said Jabir.

He claims that the company’s accounts were frozen after he joined the work “against the government”, adding that the government must remember that “all individuals are not alike” and that “there are different kinds of people in a democracy.”

Jabir said the government has been suppressing all those “who do not have the same thinking” as them.

Jabir accused the government of “busting” up his businesses; West Park and Himmafushi Boatyard has been seized from him.

He said that he will not go back to supporting President Abdulla Yameen “whether they freeze all [his] accounts or take away all [his] belongings”.