Statistics of Maldives Customs Service has revealed that a total of MVR 31.7 million has been confiscated by the authority in the past six years under the Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism Act.
As per statistics, Customs confiscated the highest amount in 2018.
Former Minister of Defense Mariya Ahmed Didi provided the details in writing as response to the inquiry on the matter by Central-Maafannu MP Ibrahim Rasheed submitted last year. The MP had demanded statistics on the money confiscated by Customs since the government implemented the anti-money laundering and terror financing law in 2014.
The former minister's response was disclosed to the parliament on Wednesday, November 29.
The minister, in her response, had provided details of the confiscated amounts each year, with the currency in which the monies were confiscated, separated into columns.
The amount confiscated by the authority in the past six years reached an exact total of MVR 31,772,807.56.
In 2018, Customs confiscated a total of MVR 17,324,371.68; the highest in the last six years, while the second highest confiscation was recorded in 2017 at MVR 5,157,934.02.
- 2015: MVR 1,343,462.24
- 2016: MVR 2,879,122.48
- 2017: MVR 5,183,340
- 2018: MVR 17,363,054.60
- 2019: MVR 2,849,654.24
- 2020: MVR 2,154,174
The statistics also included monies without the currency highlighted (the values below have been presented in MVR);
- 2015: MVR 116,886
- 2016: MVR 16,800
- 2017: MVR 34,792
- 2018: MVR 40,424.75
- 2019: MVR 3,400,000
- 2021: MVR 1,278,000
Customs further confirmed that the confiscated total each year was handed over to Maldives Customs Service for investigation.
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