MPS unable to clarify presence of concrete evidence of attempted financial coup

The Maldives Police Service (MPS) has provided details of their probe into the alleged attempt to topple the government, following a sudden decision by Bank of Maldives (BML) to halt foreign transactions on cards linked to Maldivian Rufiyaa accounts.

The police institution has so far not elaborated on the 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 has also not clarified if there was any concrete evidence in the case.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the police institution revealed that they are collecting all necessary information and studying all aspects of the investigation in detail.

Further MPS assured 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 Monday, 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.

In its statement, MPS revealed that the announcement made by the country’s national bank for which a majority of shares are held by the government, on Monday 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 statement went on to read that MPS has launched an investigation into the incident, as there is 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 Sunday evening, the country’s national bank confirmed that the changes to card limits for foreign transactions announced earlier on Sunday, have been reversed based on instructions from their regulator, the central bank, Maldives Monetary Authority (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.