Police on Tuesday said there was evidence against depose ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) leader Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's lawmaker son Faris Maumoon of attempting to bribe bribe fellow lawmakers to back the opposition led censure motion against the parliament speaker.
During a press conference, police spokesperson Ahmed Shifan revealed several complaints filed over bribes offered to various lawmakers, which included the case against the Dhiggaru MP Faris.
Faris had been summoned and questioned by police in April over allegations of attempting to bribe lawmakers ahead of the censure motion against Maseeh on March 27.
The spokesperson said Ahmed Sofwaan, a close ally of former president Gayoom wanted for questioning in relation to the case had fled the country.
Faris had been summoned and questioned by police in April over allegations of attempting to bribe lawmakers ahead of the censure motion against Maseeh on March 27.
Faris, the eldest son of Gayoom was recently axed from the ruling party, which his father had founded after his father publicly withdrew support for his half brother and incumbent president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom. The rift between the two Gayooms has split the party in two factions.
Meanwhile, the state has charged Jumhoory Party (JP) leader Gasim Ibrahim over the same charges.
After months of political strife which led to the jailing of several top politicians over contentious charges, the main opposition leaders including former presidents Gayoom and Mohamed Nasheed penned a historic treaty to work against the government.
The opposition has since diverted its focus to weaken the government through the parliament. The efforts received a major boost on Monday, after the opposition wrested parliament control from the government, securing the signatures of 45 lawmakers to file a fresh censure motion to unseat the parliament speaker.
After the now opposition coalition in March had filed a second motion to unseat Maseeh, the government had engineered an amendment to the parliament rules of procedure raising the number of lawmaker signatures required to file a censure motion against the speaker and his deputy from 15 to 42.
The opposition had filed the third censure motion against Maseeh with 45 lawmakers which included nine lawmakers from the ruling party.
