It has been revealed that Hithaadhoo MP Mohamed Siruhaan held shares in Exotic Enterprises at the time the company allegedly imported Camel brand cigarettes in violation of exclusive import rights held by another party.
Exotic Enterprises registered its bonded warehouse with Maldives Customs on December 3, 2023. At the time, the company’s board of directors included Lubna Hussain Manik and Abdullah Hassan. However, by December 9, 2023, the board had changed to Lubna and Mohamed Siruhaan, who was not yet a sitting MP. He was elected to Parliament in April 2024.
When the company later exported the cigarettes, the board had changed again, listing Abdul Ahadh Adnan and Mohamed Shareef as directors.
According to official records, Exotic Enterprises imported Camel brand cigarettes on December 9, 2023. A court order was issued on December 25, 2023, suspending clearance of the shipment from the company’s bonded warehouse.
Despite the suspension, cigarettes were later removed from the warehouse on April 15 and May 8, 2024. Customs was alerted to the incident on October 30, 2024, by Parliament’s Security Services Committee.
Upon inspection, Customs found that the bonded warehouse was no longer in operation and that another office had taken its place. A total of 575 cases of cigarettes had been exported, and MVR 47 million was ordered to be paid in duty. The case was referred to the Attorney General’s Office in February 2025.