Shares transferred to sitting MP during cigarette smuggling

The Parliament's National Security Services Committee (241 Committee) has found that shares of a company named Exotic Enterprises were transferred to a current Member of Parliament during the process of illegally removing 575 cases of cigarettes that had been held in a bonded warehouse under a court order.

According to the committee's report, this was came into light by the Parliament.

When Exotic Enterprises initially registered its bonded warehouse with Customs, the shareholders were Lubna Hussain Manik and a person named Abdulla Hassan. The committee report also published their ID card numbers.

However, when Exotic Enterprises imported counterfeit cigarettes on December 9, 2023, the shareholders were Lubna Hussain Manik and Mohamed Siruhan, the current PNC Member of Parliament for the Hithadhoo constituency.

It is important to note that Siruhan was not an MP at that time. He was elected during the 20th Parliamentary Election held in April 2023.

By the time the cigarettes were illegally removed from the bonded warehouse, the shareholders of Exotic Enterprises had been changed again. When the issue of the illegal removal of cigarettes surfaced, the company's Board of Directors consisted of individuals named Abdul Ahad Adnan and Mohamed Shareef.

The report passed by the Parliament states that Exotic Enterprises imported the counterfeit cigarettes under the brand name that had exclusivity rights held by another company. As a result, the exclusive brand holder sought a court order to stop the clearance of the cigarettes, and a temporary order was issued preventing their release.

The cigarettes were then stored in a bonded warehouse registered under Exotic Enterprises (a warehouse under the joint control of the owner and Customs). However, Customs only learned that the cigarettes had been removed without their knowledge, and the warehouse subsequently shut down, following information provided by the Parliament Committee 241.

The committee's report, citing Customs, states that Exotic Enterprises was ordered to pay the due duty of MVR 47.1 million for the illegally removed cigarettes. As the company failed to pay the amount, the case has now been forwarded to the Attorney General's Office for criminal prosecution.