Sujatha Haleem has resigned from her position as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Pension Office.

It is understood that her resignation was tendered today.

Sujatha’s departure follows the resignations of five other senior officials from the Pension Office, who stepped down due to concerns over a decision to sell MVR 2.4 billion in bonds invested from the Pension Fund to the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) and reinvest the proceeds into a government bond.

Earlier this month, Ahmed Inaz resigned from his post as the Chairperson of the Pension Office, while board member Saruvash Adam resigned late last year. Additionally, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Hawwa Fauzee, had also resigned previously.

Yesterday, the Pension Office confirmed its decision to proceed with selling MVR 2.4 billion worth of bonds to the MMA and reinvesting the funds in a government-issued bond.

In a press statement released yesterday, the Pension Office explained that the Ministry of Finance had proposed an investment in a MVR 2.4 billion dual-currency treasury bond (in both Maldivian Rufiyaa and US Dollars). To finance this investment based on the fund's liquidity, it was proposed to sell MVR 2.4 billion worth of existing treasury bonds held by the Maldives Retirement Pension Scheme in the secondary market.

According to the statement, the Board’s decision to invest in this bond was based on several key factors. These included ensuring the secondary market sale of current bonds would not result in any loss to the fund, diversifying investments to strengthen the fund's resilience in line with long-term investment strategies and consultant advice, securing returns in US Dollars, extending the average duration of invested assets, and increasing overall portfolio returns.

"This transaction will create a foreign currency reserve within the Pension Fund through an investment, without the need to purchase foreign currency from the market," the statement noted.

Furthermore, the Pension Office highlighted that this transaction provides an opportunity to convert some of the treasury bills currently held by the fund into long-term treasury bonds, which is expected to further enhance portfolio returns.