Malé, Maldives – The Privileges and Ethics Committee of the Maldives has defended it’s decision to throw out request by Speaker Nasheed.
A statement released by the committee said that the decision was made after a vote was called out in the order of submission and through a legitimate majority vote where due process was observed.
There were many legislative issues in the request and as such cannot be investigated by the Ethics committee, according to the statement. The committee also expressed concern that a secret sitting was leaked to the public.
The Member’s Privileges and Ethics decided to dismiss the inquiry request put forth by the Speaker against Deputy Minister of the Defence Ministry Ahmed Zameel. Nasheed instructed to send a letter to the Prosecutor General, requesting to prosecute Zameel, after he sent a signed letter to the parliament, denying the request to summon individual officers of the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF).
Instead of individual officers, MNDF will answer to National Security Service Committee, on their investigation of the terror attack against Nasheed on May 6.
Member of the Ethic’s and Privileges Committee, Representative for Dhangethi Constituency Mohamed Nazim submitted to dismiss the review request. With the exception of Central Hithadhoo Representative Ahmed Rasheed, all the members voted in favour.Following this, there were heated exchanges in a WhatsApp group with the members of the national council. Chairperson of MDP Hassan Latheef conveyed a message from Speaker Nasheed accusing President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih of influencing MNDF and attempting to interfere in the Parliament’s inquiry.
Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker Eva Abdulla accused MP Mohamed Rasheed, who happens to be brother in law to President Solih, of attempting to fail the inquiry, and questioned why he has continued to try and fail any requests of Speaker Nasheed.
