Minister of Tourism Ahmed Adheeb has said that the Ministry of Tourism did not issue a permit to the Artur brothers to create a company for investment in the Maldives, and that the Tourism Ministry is not mandated to issue such permits.

The Artur brothers are alleged conmen who conduct illegal activities through their connections with political leaders in different countries.

Meanwhile, Minister of Economic Development Ahmed Mohamed (Andey) said today that both the Tourism Ministry and the Economic Ministry are mandated to issue permits for foreign investments and that the permit for the company by the Artur brothers was issued by the Tourism Ministry.

“Under the foreign investment law, Tourism Ministry may also issue permits for foreign investments,” Ahmed Mohamed said.

Adheeb told Sun Online today that the Tourism Ministry grants permission to foreign investors based on requests made by them; however, the permit to register a business in the Maldives is not provided by the Tourism Ministry. He said that the Tourism Ministry granted permission to Ismail Waseem of H. Ever Chance in August 2012, for the Artur brothers’ company to invest in tourism in the Maldives.

“Foreign investors who wish to enter the tourism market must obtain a no-objection letter from us. We don’t give the permit, we give the no-objection letter. They [Economic Ministry] will register the company. We don’t register companies,” Adheeb said.

Adheeb said that it is not part of the Tourism Ministry’s responsibility to conduct background checks on shareholders of companies prior to issuing the no-objection letter.

He said that this is part of the Economic Ministry’s responsibility, and reiterated that he has no connections with Armenia’s alleged conmen Artur brothers.