Fisheries minister Dr. Mohamed Shainee has claimed that businessmen are being extorted by being threatened with inclusion in a European Union (EU) sanction list.

In a tweet on Monday, Minister Shainee said: “To all those trying to extort money from businessmen and create fear of including them in the so called “sanction list”, please read the framework and find an empty list in the annex.”

This is regarding the framework adopted by EU on July 16 which aims to impose targeted sanctions ‘against persons and entities responsible for undermining the rule of law or obstructing an inclusive political solution in the Maldives as well as persons and entities responsible for human rights violations’. The EU stated that 'this decision makes it possible, if the situation does not improve, to impose travel ban and asset freezes on relevant individuals and entities'.

In the tweet, Minister Shainee did not reveal who were threatening businessmen but shared the full text of EU’s framework and said that “Government is doing all necessary [work] to make sure no sanction is imposed on any one of us.”