Deutsche Bank Funds Speaker Nasheed's Organization

The German investment bank, Deutsche Bank, has decided to financially support the Maldives Coral Institute; a nonprofit organisation lead by Speaker Mohamed Nasheed's ; through its Ocean Resilience Philanthropy Fund.

The Bank launched its philanthropy fund on November 5 with the purpose of supporting projects aimed at reviving and preserving oceanic biospheres. The Maldives Coral Institute's research project, the Future Climate Coral Bank project, was one of the first to receive the fund's support.

The Future Climate Coral Bank seeks to identify corals that can withstand the changes to the climate, and to extract and preserve their genetic material. The Coral Institute believe that such corals can be regrown in the far future using the stored genetic material.

Some have taken to social media to criticise Deutsche Bank's decision to support Speaker Nasheed's nonprofit organisation; they accuse Speaker Nasheed of having secured this support through his political clout, especially as there existed more experienced and effective nonprofits in the Maldives that have been working towards environmental causes.

Foreign financial institutions have been found to hide corrupt and nefarious activities under the guise of supporting environmental projects and causes.