President Mohamed Muizzu has likened actions in the aftermath of the Bank of Maldives’ (BML) announcement to drastically revise and limit US dollar transactions on credit and debit cards tied to Rufiyaa accounts as a long-planned and direct attempted coup.

The decision by the majority state-owned BML, announced to the public on Sunday morning, was reversed within hours after the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) intervened, the bank said in a statement later that day.

Muizzu, speaking at a People’s National Congress (PNC) event on Monday, said BML’s board decision was contrary to his direct instructions, further warning that he would probe the manner in which it unfolded.

“What was done, anyone with common sense would know that all these dots are connected, what was done is, just as Shiyam [Minister of Fisheries and Ocean Resources] also pointed out, an attempted coup, by those who did what they did [on Sunday],” he said.

Muizzu warned that he would bear down the might of the Constitution on those who attempted to topple the administration.

He accused the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) of trying to engineer a coup—using BML’s announcement—by following the example of what had recently occurred in neighbouring countries.

The police have now launched an investigation into the case and, while the Police will keep the public informed of the progress of the investigation, the administration will not exert any influence on the investigation, he said.

“We will not hesitate to investigate this independently and impose sentences, to the letter, without backing down. That is justice,” Muizzu said.

While the President had said that, out of a total of nine board members, four were administration appointees, the administration had, in May, appointed six members to the board during the bank’s annual general meeting. The administration had proposed as representatives for the BML Board for the period 2024-2025;

  • Karl Stumke (Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director)
  • Hassan Zareer
  • Aishath Nooradeen
  • Aishath Sajny
  • Ali Faris Mohamed
  • Adil Moosa
  • Mariyam Suzy Adam

However, Zareer, who had been appointed BML’s Chairperson resigned before the bank’s annual general meeting after Parliament approved his nomination for Commissioner General of Taxation.

While the President’s coup-accusation extended to include BML’s board members, Sunday’s decision came after the bank had repeatedly, over a span of several days, said that it might need to make ‘difficult decisions’ due to the limited availability of US dollars.

Stumke said at the annual general meeting on May 25 that the bank had traded US$333 million in excess of its buying capacity within the past three years alone. While BML has acquired around US$60 million in 2024 so far, the bank had already sold close to twice that amount, Stumke said in a message to the bank’s employees following Sunday’s decision.

The administration controls over 66.3 percent of BML’s shares — the Government of Maldives holds 62.2 percent with State Owned Enterprises holding 4.1 percent. The remaining 33.7 percent is held by public shareholders.