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Muliaage chief of staff alleged with attempt to buy flats for judges

A leaked statement has revealed Muliaage chief of staff involved in a bid to illicitly purchase apartments from Male' Square housing complex for chief justice Abdulla Saeed, top-court judge Ali Hameed and judicial administrator Hassan Saeed.

On Tuesday night multiple confidential statements were publicized on popular social media platforms Facebook and Twitter by yet unknown sources.

Following the leak media official Ahmed Shifan of Maldives Police Service on Wednesday had verified the authenticity of the documents and stressed those behind the leak would be brought before justice.

The erratic procedure through both chief justice and top-court judge attempted to purchase apartments were explained by Mohamed Shafaau, a former Maldives Islamic Bank (MIB) employee who had also been a previous managing director of Maldives Road Development Corporation (MRDC).

In his statement Shafaau claimed he was summoned to the chamber of top-court judge Ali Hameed and was instructed to purchase four apartments from Male' Square complex with the assistance of Muliaage chief of staff.

According to Shafaau he was demanded to seek the conditional eligibility letter required for the purpose of purchase as well as to submit application via online portal once it was opened. Shafaau had then produced required documents through MIB following which he met with Ali Hameed; who had then handed an enclosed letter to him.

Shafaau claimed the envelope had contained apparent dispute issues related to ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) as well as the apartment application form of the top-court judge.

The conditional eligibility letter was extracted right after his encounter with the top-court judge while the apartment application form was delivered from judicial administrator's laptop via online portal; which was then notified to Muliaage chief of staff.

The presidential residence's chief of staff had denied making any comments after Avas Online had contacted for validation.

Furthermore the former MIB and ex-MD of MRDC revealed two building ownership copies for raw-houses from Hulhumale' respectively belonging to both chief justice Abdulla Saeed and another judge was still kept under his motorbike's seat; which was handed to him right after he provided the conditional eligibility letter.

While Shafaau had admitted he did not receive any monetary compensation for his 'service' he had requested from state government to hold confidentiality of his statement during court procedure.

Since his statement was leaked on online public platforms, Shafaau had retracted his earlier statement adding he no longer wished to testify in the case.

While several confidential statements which could have been trump cards for the state's end were unexpectedly released on social platforms on Tuesday night, Maldives Police Service had claimed influential 'hands' behind the breach.

Authorities confirm they have already commenced investigation since they have classified the act as a serious offense.