Former Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture under the Yaameen administration Dr. Mohamed Shainee has come forward calling ex-President Yaameen Abdul Gayyoom the "leader that disregarded the cabinet most."
An audio recording containing some claims by ex-Minister Dr. Shainee is currently circulating on social media. In the clip, Shainee describes Yaameen as the leader that had disregarded the cabinet most, and stated that he had absolutely nothing to show for after his tenure in office as minister under the Yaameen administration.
The audio clip is then interrupted by someone who asks Dr. Shainee to consider all the development brought about by ex-President Yaameen's cabinet. To this, Dr. Shainee stated that eevn former president Dr. Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik had been able to treat former government officials with dignity.
In the recording, Dr. Shainee can be heard stating that Yaameen had turned a deaf year to calls to provide flats for cabinet ministers who did not own land, adding that Yaameen had not facilitated the opportunity for ministers to purchase the flats as well.
Who receives flats in the Maldives? Army officers and police, doctors and civil servants, the elderly and newly-wed couples. Do not know how many times it was appealed to give apartments to ministers that do not own land. We left empty-handed. Don't even have a lick of insurance.Former Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture Dr. Mohamed Shainee
Dr. Shainee was heard going on to state that there was no room today for former president Yaameen to ask them of anything, and no room for him to claim he had done anything for them either.
Dr. Shainee added that he had been forced to hold a seat in Yaameen's cabinet following the mess created by former Vice-President Ahmed Adeeb. Dr. Shainee justified this claim, stating that he had been retained in the cabinet as he had been the one communicating on behalf of Yaameen in matters related to the United States and the European Union. Dr. Shainee claimed that if he had been removed from the cabinet, al those relationships would have deteriorated as former president Yaameen was "too cowardly" to communicate with international parties.
In the audio clip, Dr. Shainee is heard saying that he had "not played", and that there would have been a lot for him to do if he had chosen to. He also stated that the government exists because of him. Dr. Shainee stated that even after the Supreme Court order of 1 February, many expensive efforts had been made to topple the Yaameen administration. Dr. Shainee stated that he personally had handled some of the funds being funneled to topple Yaameen's government.
In stating that President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's election had only been made possible due to discussions conducted by him, Dr. Shainee stated that instead of speaking of certain parties, he had information on all of them. Dr. Shainee added that he had in his possession audio recordings of some meetings, and asserted that it would be foolish to "play" with him.
Dr. Shainee also claims to know details of discussions between main-ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and the Yaameen administration, following the imprisonment of former president and Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Nasheed under charges of terrorism. However, Dr. Shainee declines to further comment on this topic in the audio recording.
The audio clip also contains a claim by Dr. Shainee that no government would claim to investigate the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) corruption case, and argued that members of the incumbent Solih administration had been the ones to benefit most from the corruption.
