Bank of Maldives (BML) has revealed that the senior staff of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the MMA requested to overlook the deposits that were being made to SOF during the MMPRC Corruption Scandal.

Answering questions raised during a parliament committee meeting today, Interim Risk Officer of BML, Yameen Adam said that they had submitted a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) was submitted to the FIU in November 2014, after putting the account of SOF on hold temporarily.

He added that Deputy Governor Neeza Imad was in-charge of FIU then, who had proceeded to advise that the bank could not hold the account of SOF.

Yameen added that FIU Chief, Athif Shakoor was on leave during this time.

However, Athif had responded in the same manner after having returned to office. As such, he had told that the account could not be made inactive for further transactions. Yameen added that they had received instructions from both Neeza and Athif to activate the account.

Neeza resigned from her post as the Deputy Governor after her name was withdrawn by the government of President Abdulla Yameen, to succeed as the Governor. Neeza currently serves as a state minister at the Ministry of Economic Development.

Deputy CEO of BML, Mohamed Shareef also highlighted that transactions of SOF were continuously reported to the FIU even after that. However, they never received instructions to take further measures.