Parliament to withdraw case against BML deputy CEO

The speaker of the Parliament and former president Mr. Mohamed Nasheed has stated that he plans on withdrawing his request to the police to have the deputy CEO of Bank of Maldives, Mr. Mohamed Shareef investigated.

Mr. Mohamed Shareef was under fire by the speaker for allegations of providing false information to the Public Accounts Committee of the parliament.

The speaker, however, stated in this Monday’s parliamentary session that he had received a letter from Mr. Mohamed Shareef that stated that whatever information he had provided to the Public Accounts Committee was based on the information available to him at the time.

Mr. Shareef had also stated in the letter that he had not been previously aware of the bank cheques that had circulated on social media after the meeting, and that he would review and provide information to the parliament regarding the cheques.

“My aim is to encourage people to speak honestly in the parliament, not to punish or have people investigated. So I believe that as stated in his letter, the bank official will now provide the committee with the information they require and assist the committee in its proceedings. I plan to discuss the issues submitted by the Public Accounts Committee with its chair member and also rethink our request to have this matter investigated by the police,” speaker of Parliament Nasheed stated in today’s parliamentary session.

The deputy CEO of BML had stated in the committee meeting held last week that the bank did allow the deposit of any endorsed cheque from MMPRC that was labeled as non-negotiable. However, after the meeting, photos of an MMPRC cheque that was labeled as non-negotiable and deposited to SOF Private Limited's bank account started circulating on social media.

This prompted the speaker of the Parliament to request the Police to investigate whether the Deputy CEO had intentionally provided the committee with false information.