MMA Governor Naseer resigns

Governor of the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) Ahmed Naseer, on Wednesday, resigned from his position.

President's Office confirmed that it had received the governor's letter of resignation. Naseer served as the central bank's head for approximately two years.

Prior to submitting his resignation, Naseer met MMA employees and announced the decision.

Naseer resigned amidst allegations of circumventing MMA regulations and over which he was summoned to the Parliamentary Committee for Public Finance twice.

Disagreement's with the former FIU head

The former head of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Abdulla Ashraf, sent a letter to the Parliamentary Committee for Public Finance detailing several accusations against Naseer including accusations of exerting undue influence into FIU investigations and interfering with attempts to file cases at the police.

As FIU is an independent agency of MMA, the central bank's governor has no legal authority to influence its investigations.

Naseer was summoned to the parliament on Sunday to answer Ashraf's accusations.

Ashraf also claimed that Naseer interfered into the FIU's investigation into the deposit of MVR 22.5 million into the bank account of former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom shortly before the 2018 presidential election.

Concerning the matter, the MMA governor stated that he called Ashraf within an hour of the submission since he did not know what the case concerned and because he received a call from Yameen.

At the committee, Naseer also agreed that he had made two private calls and met Ashraf on the terrace of the MMA building to discuss FIU investigations as stated in Ashraf's letter. The former FIU head stated that Naseer's rhetoric had urged FIU to act in a certain manner on three of these occasions.

Despite agreeing to Ashraf's claims, Naseer stated that he only did so to clarify information and denied attempting to influence FIU's work.

Furthermore, the letter stated that Naseer disapproved of FIU notifying the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) regarding the deposit of USD 1 million into the Escrow account jointly owned by ACC and Yameen.

In response to the committee's question whether the aforementioned claim could be substantiated, Ashraf stated that it could only be proven if Naseer agreed.

Speaking at the Parliamentary Committee for Public Finance on the matter, Naseer reiterated that he had only clarified information regarding the case and that he had not ordered or prohibited any course of action.

Naseer also levelled serious allegations against Ashraf, including claims of leaking FIU information via a bot and arranging ways to access the unit's data even after he left his position. He also alleged that Ashraf neglected his duties and met certain political figures.