Top opposition lawmaker Abdulla Riyaz on Wednesday accused ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) of attempting to bribe government lawmakers to reverse their decision to back the opposition led censure motion to unseat parliament speaker Abdulla Maseeh.
Speaking during the joint opposition rally held at main Jumhoory Party (JP) camp, the Kinbindhoo MP had accused the ruling party of bribing fellow lawmakers, citing PPM parliamentary group leader and Villi-Maafannu MP Ahmed Nihan Hussain Manik’s mention of a new government "game-play" during a speech.
The former police chief Riyaz had alleged that the Villimale MP’s "game-play" was to bribe fellow lawmakers with an amount of five million dollars to turn them back in favour of the ruling party.
He expressed confidence in PPM lawmakers who signed the censure motion, stating that the lawmakers cannot be bribed as they sided with opposition in the best interest of the people, which he believes as a sign of disapproval for the government’s actions.
After the now opposition coalition in March had filed a second motion to unseat speaker Abdulla 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 ten lawmakers from the ruling party.
MP Riyaz quoted reports which claimed that all ten lawmakers who signed the motion had ignored incumbent president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom's repeated attempts to contact them.
However, President’s office spokesperson Ibrahim Muaz Ali had assured that the president would not resort to bribery but did admit that the president had pleaded government lawmakers to cooperate and support the government in its effort to build a better future for the people.
Authorities meanwhile are looking into multiple bribery allegations involving key opposition officials during the previously filed censure motion against speaker Maseeh.
JP leader and Maamigili lawmaker Gasim Ibrahim has been charged for attempting to bribe lawmakers ahead of the censure vote.
Police had also accused the deposed ruling PPM leader Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's lawmaker son Faris Maumoon of attempting to bribe fellow MPs to back the opposition led censure motion against the parliament speaker.
MP Riyaz --
