MDP: CP Shujau needs to resign to uphold police’s credibility

Fayyaz Ismail, the chairperson of the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), demanded the resignation of Commissioner of Police Ali Shujau on Tuesday, accusing him of bowing down to political pressure from the government in deciding to open a criminal investigation against the opposition for possibly using the national bank’s later-reversed decision to change card limits for foreign transactions to incite a coup and overthrow the government.

In a press briefing on Tuesday afternoon, Fayyaz said the MDP administration had engaged in a lot of effort to make police an independent institution and to restore the public’s confidence in them.

He said that the statement released by the police the previous night, announcing its decision to investigate the case, puts it all at risk.

He accused the police of blindly following President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu’s instructions.

“I take this opportunity to call on the police commissioner to resign. He needs to resign so that the credibility of the police body, the police service, can be upheld,” he said.

Fayyaz said that “whatever type of coup we are labelled with”, the MDP will continue to call out the government on its “deceptions and incapability.”

In its statement, the police said the “shocking decision by a bank that the government holds a majority of shares in, which went against the government’s counsel, had coincided with a press conference held by political entities regarding the state of the government’s finances.”

It said that hundreds of bot social media accounts were used to attempt to incite people into taking to the streets to overthrow the government and cause civil unrest, and that there’s room to believe it was an illegal attempt to overthrow the legitimate government.

It said that the police had therefore opened an investigation into the case.

On Sunday morning, the BML suspended foreign transactions for existing debit cards, as well as new debit and credit cards linked to MVR accounts. It also lowered the monthly limit for standard and gold credit cards to USD 100.

But it reversed the decision within hours, a move it said was based on instructions from its regulator, MMA.

The sudden decision to change card limits for foreign transactions had created massive public backlash, especially from Maldivian students based overseas and small businesses that sell imported goods.

The situation quickly turned political, with top government officials, accusing the opposition of attempting to stage a coup.

In a press conference held at the President’s Office shortly after the BML reversed its decision, top government officials said the bank changed the card limits despite explicit instructions by President Muizzu not to make such a move.

Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer said the government and BML had several talks over the dollar crunch, but the bank acted against the government’s advice.

In a ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) rally held on Monday evening, President Muizzu himself described the BML’s decision as part of a conspiracy to overthrow his administration. He said the case would be investigated and those responsible punished in accordance with the constitution.

In its original statement announcing the changes to card limits, BML said it was compelled to make the changes because the card usage is much higher than foreign currency it is able to purchase – impacting the bank’s ability to provide foreign currency support to its business customers.

BML’s CEO and Managing Director Karl Stumke said that while the bank purchased approximately USD 60 million in foreign currency from customers this year, the card usage is threefold higher than that.

Stumke said that the bank has an obligation to protect its depositors and therefore cannot continue to sell more than it is able to purchase.

He acknowledged that the changes will have a significant impact on the bank’s customers.

“We have not taken this decision lightly but have been compelled to take action to ensure we can continue to provide the necessary support for essential economic activities,” he said.