Central bank Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) has accused former Head of Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) Abdulla Ashraf of delaying notifying authorities regarding a large amount of funds that were transferred to former president Abdulla Yameen's account.
In a statement released by the MMA on Thursday, the authority stated FIU is an independent body mandated to take action on suspicious transactions by informing relevant authorities. However, the FIU had failed to promptly inform relevant authorities of several such suspicious transactions, especially while Ashraf was the heading the unit.
During June 2018, an influential politician had transferred a large sum of funds to the former president's bank account, however, FIU delayed notifying authorities of the transaction. The information came to light while Ashraf was out of the country, stated MMA.
The central bank also noted that while FIU has to issue an yearly report on the work done by the unit, the report was not prepared during the two years that Ashraf headed the unit.
The statement further defended their governor Ahmed Naseer, who has been accused of influencing FIU. The Authority confirmed that Naseer had assisted FIU in their work by providing resources, and had not obstructed the unit's work in any way.
Governor Ahmed Naseer
