Gayoom was unable to reform financial system due to the influence of businessmen: Nasheed

Former President Mohamed Nasheed has said that former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was unable to reform the financial system of the country within his 30 year rule due to the influence of businessmen on the government. In a rally held at Usfasgandu on Wednesday night, Nasheed said that even as he had been sworn in to office in 2008, it has been over 15 years since the international financial community had advised to take measures such as taxation from businesses and services. In this regard, he said that the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) had continuously recommended implementing a taxation policy within the country but the Gayoom administration had failed to comply with due to the influence of businessmen on his government.

“At the moment the government was functioning on the consultation of a few. There were no means of communication with the people. The President was always in the dark. The only voices heard from the people were through a handful of people who had to keep misinforming to protect their own personal interests,” Nasheed said.

Nasheed said that when his Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) tried to impose taxation some people said that the people were against the change however he said that the people had not opposed the policy when they were briefed about it.

Noting that the State income was at MVR 7 million, Nasheed said that MVR 11.6 million had been budgeted in 2012. He said that the income was almost doubled within two â€" three years by understanding the business concepts.

“Taking import duty is charging the businessman before the sale. Hence there is no connection to the business profit tax and the import duty. Goods and Services Tax (GST) will help the business prosper in many ways, and the revenue to the State from GST is more than that from import duty,” Nasheed said in the meeting attended by Parliament members.

Nasheed said that the MDP financial policy would help 90 percent of the population even if the taxation had been a burden on few of us. He said that when there is a dictatorship, the governance is driven by a few and for that reason the financial policy haven’t been changed during the last 30 years.
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