Male: Police in Maldives are investigating an alleged attempt to topple President Mohamed Muizzu by stirring anger over the archipelago’s worsening financial woes.
Last week, the country’s main commercial bank drastically reduced the foreign exchange spending allowed for Maldivians, sparking anger. Muizzu has slammed the move as an “illegal attempt” to overthrow his govt, by making him unpopular and encouraging street protests. There have been no demonstrations but scathing criticism of govt has erupted online. “Hundreds of ‘bot’ accounts have been used to encourage people to take to the streets to overthrow govt and incite public unrest,” police said.
The crisis escalated over the weekend when Bank of Maldives Limited (BML) stopped debit card transactions and allowed a maximum monthly credit card spend of $100 for online transactions. The bank said the changes, which they have since rescinded, came “in response to the escalating usage of foreign currency spend on cards and the static sale of foreign currency to the bank”.
Muizzu said the decision was a plot to discredit him and accused some BML directors of being loyal to the former govt. He said the bank had made the decision despite his advise, adding that BML’s board does not have a govt majority yet. “As of now, there are four govt directors. The remaining five are not govt-aligned. We have nominated two directors, but it will take time for them to be appointed,” he said.
