Parliament Concludes Work on Companies Act Amendment

Parliament has concluded its work on an amendment to the Companies Act, aimed at reducing the deadlines for appointing Managing Directors and Directors to company boards.

The amendment was introduced by Feydhoo MP Ismail Nizar on behalf of the government. During an extraordinary parliamentary session held today, the bill was debated briefly, with the session ending in under an hour due to limited participation from MPs.

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Following the debate, the bill was forwarded to the Economic Committee for review. The committee convened shortly after, concluding its meeting in under 10 minutes, with the amendment passing without further changes.

The bill will now proceed to a parliamentary vote, which is scheduled for tomorrow in another extraordinary session. Alongside the vote on the amendment, Parliament will also decide on the appointment of Abbas Shareef as Prosecutor General.

Currently, the Registrar of Companies has a 30-day window to appoint Managing Directors and Directors to company boards following a vacancy. The proposed amendment seeks to shorten this period to 10 days.

Additionally, the amendment suggests reducing notice periods for company general meetings. It proposes shortening the notice period from 21 days to three days for general meetings and from 14 days to seven days for extraordinary general meetings.

Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Ahmed Nazim, also called for the appointment of local talent to senior positions at the Bank of Maldives (BML). His remarks were made during an extraordinary parliamentary session today, where MPs debated amendments to the Companies Act.

Nazim highlighted that key senior officials of the bank were not present in the country when the decision was announced last month to restrict foreign transactions on cards linked to Maldivian Rufiya accounts. He pointed out that at the time of the decision, expatriates holding positions such as Credit Control Manager, Operations Director, and Risk Manager were abroad, yet continued to receive salaries amounting to USD 15,000 per month.