Adhadhu understands that the government deliberated on imposing prison sentences for journalists who publish reports on black market exchange rates for USD.
The Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee today approved an amendment to the Foreign Exchange Act that would prohibit the publication of black market dollar rates. The committee passed this measure during a meeting held after the Foreign Exchange Bill was recommitted for further review.
Reliable sources have confirmed to Adhadhu that high-level discussions took place within the ruling party and the government regarding the possibility of jailing journalists before these changes were submitted to the committee. However, the proposal sent to the committee opted for heavy fines instead of imprisonment.
Under the proposed bill, if a legal entity or a registered business publishes black market exchange rates, they could face fines ranging from MVR 100,000 to MVR 5 million.
Furthermore, the promotion or advertising of foreign currency transactions at rates exceeding the official exchange rate or the band set by the central bank will be deemed a criminal offense. The penalty for this offense is a fine between MVR 25,000 and MVR 500,000.
Alongside these changes, a provision has been included to ban the sale of dollars above the official rate. The committee decided to propose amendments in which any foreign currency transaction conducted at a rate higher than that set by the MMA would be punishable by a fine between MVR 25,000 and MVR 1 million.
These legislative moves to silence the media come after Economic Minister Mohamed Saeed claimed that news reports were contributing to the rise in dollar prices. When the government submitted the Foreign Exchange Bill, it did not contain any such restrictive measures.
