Police have revealed that no one has been questioned three weeks after publicly announcing a "financial coup" investigation into a professional decision by the Bank of Maldives (BML) board to suspend dollar transactions from Rufiyaa accounts.
"We have not questioned anyone in the investigation so far. Some information is being collected and we are checking to see if a criminal proceeding can be conducted. No one has been questioned in the investigation so far," police told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.
The government claims BML and the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) colluded to overthrow President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu's government on August 25. Police say people were urged to take to the streets against the government following BML's decision to suspend the dollar limit.
Police announcement of the investigation coincided with President Muizzu first raising the allegations of a "financial coup" at the ruling People's National Congress (PNC) rally on August 26.
Even before that, government officials had labelled the national bank's decision a coup.
Despite the major criminal accusation, senior officials at BML and senior leaders of MDP have not been questioned by the police so far, confirmed officials from BML and MDP last week.
Meanwhile, BML Managing Director and CEO Karl Stumke resigned after leaving the country. Police had not sought a court order to impose a travel ban on him.
The government had also tried to push the narrative that a coup attempt was underway after the national bank decided to suspend dollar transactions from Rufiyaa accounts.
Several journalists said President's Office Communications Minister Ibrahim Khaleel instructed their outlets to push that narrative. A top government official told Adhadhu that the government was the first to characterize the events as a coup attempt.
“[We] were forced to set the narrative that way because the public started thinking that the dollar limit was a government decision,” the official said.
A source from a media outlet that received instructions from the President's Office said Khaleel contacted the outlet repeatedly and instructed them to bring articles describing the "financial coup."
