Bank of Maldives (BML)’s Chief Operating Officer Mohamed Shareef’s name has been withdrawn from the list of board members nominated to the company by the state.

The bank confirmed to RaajjeMV that Shareef’s name has in fact been retracted from the list, on Tuesday.

While the government has forwarded eight names for board members at the bank, it currently has 11 members. Additionally, three shareholders are also included in the bench.

Names nominated by the government are Timothy Soya, Juweyria Saeed, Sana Mansoor, Najeem Ibrahim Zakariya, Hawwa Safwan and Hussain Thaufeeq Ali.

BML is set to hold its Annual General Meeting on Tuesday night where board members will officially be appointed.

Maldives Police Service (MPS) had on 28 July confirmed that investigations are proceeding against Shareef over allegations of providing false information to the People’s Majlis.

However, police refused to disclose any other details in the matter, adding that it will be shared when they are able to.

Parliament Speaker and Former President Mohamed Nasheed had announced the decision to proceed with investigations into Shareef’s case, on 23 July. Nasheed earlier said that they had discovered new evidence which confirms that the BML official had misled the parliament.

During questioning at the parliament’s public accounts committee, Shareef denied that BML had sent a non-negotiable cheque to Scores of Flair (SoF), the company involved in the state embezzlement. However, after the committee meeting, evidence showing that BML had sent non-negotiable cheques to SoF were leaked on social media.

BML officials were summoned to the public accounts committee 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.

The bank denied any involvement in the matter, saying that it “has never and will never support financial irregularities of any form,” adding that it condemns implications that its staff were involved in the matter.

Continuing to put the blame on Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA), BML said that its responsibility is to report suspicious transactions to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) for their further investigation and actions, under the Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism Act.