Former Assistant Governor of Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) Neeza Imad has said that she did not request Bank of Maldives (BML) to allow suspicious financial transactions between Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) and the private company, SoF.
Speaking to the parliament committee on the MMPRC embezzlement case, Neeza said that she requested the FIU to follow internal policy, and also denied the statements made by senior officials of Bank of Maldives (BML).
She said that she was disappointed to hear the officials calling her the deputy governor of MMA, when she was actually the assistant governor.
At an earlier committee meeting, BML’s Interim Risk Officer Yameen Adam said SoF began making suspicious transactions on 25 November 2014 and that the bank had held SoF’s account and submitted eight Suspicious Transaction Reports (STR). However, he said that the interim head of FIU, MMA Deputy Governor Neeza Imad, had recommended BML to release the account and allow the transactions.
He also said that FIU’s head Athif Shakoor returned from his holiday on 1 December 2014 and also recommended that BML allow the transactions, adding that FIU had told BML that it had no authority to hold accounts.
Neeza denied these claims, stating to the committee that BML Deputy CEO Mohamed Shareef had called her over a large suspicious transaction regarding a BML account, and requested a meeting with her and Abdulla Ashraf, a senior FIU official, at which he gave the details. She said that, after asking for Ashraf’s opinion, she called BML Deputy CEO Shareef to tell him to follow their internal policy.
Neeza, who had served in MMA for more than 30 years, said that MMA has never requested BML to activate or de-activate an account, since a court order is required, and that MMA has always given instructions to the bank via letters.
Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC)’s report stated that the investigation and FIU head Athif Shakoor’s statements indicate that Athif had made the decision to not inform the police on the suspicious transactions of SoF, despite receiving the STR over alleged money laundering and financing of terrorism.
