Adhadhu has learnt that the Pension Office Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Sujatha Khaleem, resigned today after refusing to sign the board document to use the pension fund for money printing.
Sources told Adhadhu on condition of anonymity that the board wanted to proceed with the transaction today. However, Sujatha refused to sign the document as the head of the Pension Office.
Sujatha is the second person to resign after refusing to sign a document related to a MVR 2.4 billion bond transaction involving the Pension Office, the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) and the Finance Ministry.
The Pension Office Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Hawwa Fajwa, earlier resigned after refusing to sign a document related to the transaction.
The Pension Office will conduct this transaction by selling bonds previously purchased from the Finance Ministry to the MMA and investing the proceeds in a new long-term government bond.
According to the Pension Office, the transaction is profitable and creates a new foreign exchange reserve for the pension fund.
Pension Office board Chairman Ahmed Inaaz and private sector representative Ahmed Saruvash Adam earlier resigned from the board after saying this transaction would be detrimental.
Both Inaaz and Saruvash said the transaction would have negative consequences in the near and distant future at a time when the state's financial situation is fragile.
In addition, Ahmed Rasheed, who represented the Finance Ministry on the board, also resigned. Reports say his resignation is also connected to the money printing transaction.
Technical experts told Adhadhu that the MMA is funding the transaction using reserves that it does not have. In this case, the money circulating in the economy increases. The experts confirmed that the transaction meets all the criteria of money printing.
