South Maafannu MP Ibrahim Rasheed has said that a Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) Governor needs to be appointed immediately.

MP Rasheed, a member of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), said this on RaajjeTV’s Fala Surukhee show on Saturday night.

MMA Governor Ahmed Naseer resigned on July 24 after he became a target of numerous allegations, including stopping officials from filing a police report over suspicious transactions involving former President Abdulla Yameen.

Former Governor Naseer has said that the actual perpetrators of the MMPRC embezzlement case are still in senior positions at MMA and that he is being falsely accused.

Speaking on RaajjeTV, MP Rasheed expressed concern over the delay in appointing a new governor to evaluate the monetary system, and said that, while around six million US dollars leave Maldives every week, Customs does not have the authority to stop the transfers, even if it involved money laundering.

He also said that foreign investors will think twice before investing in Maldives if the next governor does not improve the banks and the current monetary system.

Accusations have also been leveled at officials of the Bank of Maldives for assisting in the MMPRC embezzlement. At a parliament committee meeting, former head of MMA’s Financial Intelligence Unit Athif Shakoor said that Islamic Bank of Maldives had also neglected to report the transfers.