STO Singapore-Maldives Company resumes oil trade

STO Singapore-Maldives Co. has resumed trading, after the operations of the company has been terminated temporarily for a long duration following the allegations that former President Maumoon Abdul Qayyoom and his brother Yameen Abdul Qayyoom used the company to conduct “black-market trade of oil worth US$800 million” when the latter was the Chairman of STO.

The Company’s main area of trade was re-exporting oil. The government of former President Mohamed Nasheed and his Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) alleged that during the presidency of Maumoon, Yameen used his position as Chairman of STO to sell through the company oil imported by the Maldives at a discounted price to Burma, thereby obtaining a profit of US$ 800 million. Nasheed’s government started “an inquiry” into the matter in 2010, and the company terminated trading in 2011.

The State Trading Organization (STO), a business venture owned by the Maldivian government and the public through shares, owns 99.9 per cent of the shares of the STO Singapore-Maldives Co.

Speaking to Sun Online today, Shahid Ali, Managing Director of STO, said regarding the trading operations of STO Singapore-Maldives Co., that the company resumed its operations after deliberations in the STO Board, and that it has been proposed that the company can generate a decent profit by engaging in trade in Singapore.

“Previously, the whole potential of the venture was not realized. However, if we can do it on a large-scale, there is a future for this company to widen its trading operations and generate a good profit. That is why we are resuming operations of the company”, said Shahid.

Shahid said that the company would send a shipment of oil to Japan in November, and that it would be transported between November 15 and 17. He also said that the shipment would be of naphtha, a kind of unrefined oil. Reuters reports that STO Singapore-Maldives Co. bought the shipment from Indian Bharat Petroleum at a price of US$ 38 a ton, and that the shipment includes 30,000 tons of oil.

Shahid guaranteed that the resumption would not affect the investigations of the alleged corruption related to the company, and that the company would be conducting its operations in accordance with the standards of international trade, and that the operations would be transparent.

“All these transactions would be conducted with transparency, and in accordance with international best practices”, said Shahid.

STO Singapore-Maldives Co. was incorporated in 2002.