BML heads financial statements declaration not mandatory: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has declared the income and earnings of Bank of Maldives (BML) superiors as personal information, holding they are not mandated to disclose it.

The top court's decision is regarding the Right to Information (RTI) request made by a private individual, Aiman Latheef, to the Information Commissioner's Officer.

Aiman had sought ICOM's route to acquire information about the salaries and remuneration of BML's top officials, including its board of directors and top executive officials. He requested that the remuneration details of these individuals be stated separately along with their professional responsibilities at the bank.

The individual previously requested for the information directly from BML, but was rejected.

After Aiman submitted the RTI issue to ICOM, the office held BML should disclose the requested details. The bank contended to this decision and subsequently appealed with the High Court.

High Court upheld ICOM's ruling, after which the case was appealed to Supreme Court.

Justice Husnu-al-Suood, one of the presiding judges in the Supreme Court appeal, said in his opinion that he supported High Court's ruling on identifying BML as a state-owned enterprise, but the first appellate court's order for disclosure of directors' and executive officials' salaries was ordered wrong.

He said this information falls within the confidential or personal information of a third-party, and is not publicly disclosable.

Justices Ali Rasheed Hussain and Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim, who also presided over the case, supported Suood's opinion.