Bounced cheques leave government short of Rf3.7m

Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) has revealed that the government is short of Rf3.7 million due to bounced cheques.

“MIRA has been unable to collect large amounts of money due to insufficient funds in accounts from which cheques are issued,” MIRA Director of Taxation Fathullah Jameel said.

He said that the issue of bounced cheques became serious when MIRA commenced collecting deposits for foreign nationals.

“We face the problem of bounced cheques every now and then. But it became a serious problem since we started collecting deposits for foreign nationals,” he said.

Fathullah said that notifications have been sent to settle the payments by 15 July.

“No further notification will be issued after that date. The cases will be filed to Police,” Fathulla said.

MIRA has announced new policies for accepting payment by cheque, which requires registration before the payment is made. Also, failure to receive payment within 20 days of a cheque being bounced would result in the case being filed to court.

Moreover, owners of bounced cheques will be blacklisted, charged interest, and fined.

Three days are given to make payment after a cheque is bounced, through a guaranteed cheque or cash.