The ACC referred money laundering charges against MHR Trading, reportedly a family company of former MMPRC managing director Abdulla Ziyath, for prosecution. A joint investigation with police found that between February 2014 and October 2015, SOF cheques totalling US$325,000 were deposited into MHR's account. The money came from revenue owed for islands and lagoons leased for tourism. A further US$50,000, paid to MMPRC as the acquisition cost for Fushidhiggaa in Alif Dhaalu, reached MHR's account through Ziyath. ACC said communications between Ziyath and MHR's managing director showed grounds for the MD to suspect the money was criminal proceeds. The commission is also seeking to recover the money along with profits made from investing it.
Favara, the Maldives instant payment system, was integrated with India's UPI, allowing transfers to India in real time. Transfers are initiated in rufiyaa and credited to the recipient in Indian rupees. The first phase covers person-to-person transfers only, through Bank of Maldives and Maldives Islamic Bank; person-to-merchant payments to businesses in India are due within a year, the MMA said. It is Favara's first international integration.
Appearing on PSM's Nation Chat programme, President Muizzu said gang-related crime has declined and that anti-drug efforts are showing results. He said the 30-year drug problem requires cooperation across all state institutions and the judiciary, and that the focus is on rehabilitation over punishment, while the gang crime law in force since August has so far led to 11 arrests, searches of six premises and charges in two cases.
President Muizzu dismissed criticism that his Independence Day address was overly political, saying those calling it political were doing so because they could not counter the facts he presented, and that his remarks about MDP governments' pro-Israel foreign policy and closeness to certain countries were verifiable truths rather than partisan attacks.
Nasheed said MDP will never support Israel and will always stand with Palestine, responding to Muizzu's Independence Day claim that MDP governments pursued a pro-Israel foreign policy and distanced the country from Arab and Muslim nations. Speaking at an MDP haruge gathering, he asked who could support Israel given what is being shown on television. He also criticised Muizzu's remarks in March that appeared to encourage bombing the Gulf states. Saying so from a podium bearing the state emblem damaged the country, Nasheed said, naming Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and the UAE.
A complaint was filed against judge Sofwath Habeeb, who acquitted then-Mayor Muizzu in the Noomadi false testimony case in May 2023, after former police commissioner Hussain Waheed alleged at a PNF rally that Muizzu's lawyer had told him MVR800,000 was paid to the judge. The complaint to the Judicial Service Commission argues the allegation, whether true or false, requires investigation to uphold judicial integrity, and that public officials must not be allowed to make such claims without accountability.
BML reported net profit after tax of MVR1.3 billion for the first half of 2026, up 21 per cent on the same period last year, on gross income of MVR 3.2 billion. Second-quarter net profit was MVR647 million. Total assets reached MVR62.8 billion, deposits MVR 41.6 billion and the gross loan book MVR30.4 billion, with MVR 8 billion in new loans disbursed in the half. The bank said it provided more than US$478 million in foreign currency in the six months: US$166 million for telegraphic transfers across 311,722 outward remittances, up 20 per cent, and US$226 million for overseas card transactions, up 29 per cent. That averages US$80 million a month, 30 per cent above last year's monthly average and almost four times the 2021 average.
The Met Office issued white and yellow alerts across the country as a trough over the Maldives brought heavy rain, thunderstorms and winds gusting to 40mph nationwide, with conditions expected to worsen on Friday before clearing after Sunday. The rough weather coincides with the end of the school term holiday. Authorities urged those planning to travel by sea to exercise caution.
Customs seized 2,231 grams of drugs worth MVR4.4 million at Malé commercial harbour.
The environment and agriculture ministries signed an agreement to establish agroforestry plots on 10 islands, with the agriculture ministry supplying 400,000 trees towards the government's five-million-tree programme. Agreements have been signed with councils for 10 nurseries. The ministry said 1.8 million trees have been planted under the programme so far, with pledges totalling 5.8 million.
