Civil Court rejects BML's stay order on presidential commission
29 ޖުލައި 2019 | ހޯމަ 09:08BML filed the case against Presidential Commission on Corruption and Asset Recover earlier this month
Civil Court
Civil Court has concluded the case submitted by Bank of Maldives (BML), against the Presidential Commission on Corruption and Asset Recovery.
BML filed the case at the court, after refusing to provide information to the commission citing a High Court ruling and Article 72 (e) of the Criminal Procedure Act. The case headed to trial earlier this month, after failing the dispute resolution stage.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) had also intervened in the case.
The court, on Monday, ruled that there "are no grounds" to issue a stay order in the case.
Senior officials at the bank were summoned to the parliament’s public accounts’ committee on July 16, regarding the over MVR 1.4 billion stolen from the state coffers through the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) and a private company called SoF during the previous administration.
There, its deputy chief executive officer Mohamed Shareef had revealed that the bank stopped cooperating with authorities in the case, saying that it has been advised to not give out information “without a court order.”
ACC President Muavviz Rasheed told the parliament’s committee on independent institutions that BML’s refusal to cooperate ‘has been a hindrance to the investigation.’
BML is to have cooperated with the investigative bodies until July 7.
BML denies any negligence in the MMPRC graft case, but admitted that they had only informed the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA)’s Financial Intelligence Unit regarding recorded suspicious transactions.
While these transactions are to have been observed in 2015, the bank accused MMA’s former deputy governor Neeza Imad and FIU’s former head Athif Shakoor of authorizing to release the accounts despite bank’s decision to withhold them.
Both Neeza and Athif deny the allegation, and have asked the public finance committee for the opportunity to present their sides.
Authorities are yet to recover any of the funds stolen in the country’s biggest corruption case.
