BML’s CEO Karl Stumke resigns

Karl Stumke has resigned from his post as the Chief Executive Officer of the Bank of Maldives (BML).

The national bank confirmed Stumke’s resignation in a statement on Monday.

According to BML, Stumke tendered his resignation on Sunday.

However, he will remain as CEO until the bank’s Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) scheduled for September 21.

BML added that Deputy CEO Aishath Noordeen will be taking charge of the bank during the recruitment process of a new CEO.

“The Board of Directors will commence the recruitment process to search for a replacement,” said the bank.

Noordeen had resigned from the bank’s BOD on August 25, but retains her position as Deputy CEO. Her resignation from the board had come the same day the bank drew public backlash and the government’s ire after it suspended foreign transactions on MVR cards, citing a severe US dollar crunch. It 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 the bank reversed the decision within hours, a move it said was based on instructions from the central bank, Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA).

Government officials, including President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, have accused the opposition of being behind the card limit changes, terming it as an attempt to stage a “financial coup.”

The incident is now a subject of a criminal investigation by the police.

The police opened a criminal investigation on August 26, a day after the BML made the controversial move, citing there’s room to believe the opposition had attempted to topple President Muizzu’s administration by stoking up fears of a financial crisis and inciting people to take to the streets.

The police said it found the timing the bank’s announcement suspicious.

“This decision by a government-controlled bank, which went against the government’s counsel and that left many Maldivian citizens stunned, coincided with a press conference by a political entity regarding the state of the country’s finances,” said the police, referring to a press briefing by the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) which took place around the same time.

It added that hundreds of ‘bot’ accounts on social media were used to attempt to incite people into taking to the streets to cause civil unrest and topple the government.

“There is room to believe it was an illegal attempt to overthrow the legitimate government,” said the police.

However, the MDP has rejected the allegations as “absurd”, and demanded that the Commissioner of Police Ali Shujau resign from his post in order to restore the credibility of the police.