Faris refuses to give a statement, cites witch hunt

Dhiggaru Constituency MP Ahmed Faris Maumoon has refused to give a statement, citing that the authorities have begun a witch hunt.

Faris’ lawyer, Maumoon Hameed said that MP Faris was questioned in Dhoonidhoo on Sunday morning as part of the bribery investigation on the Parliamentarian. However, he said that MP Faris had refused to give a statement citing that the investigation against him was based on flawed grounds and as a result an illegal investigation.

Maumoon Hameed stressed that MP Faris was detained in a place that violated the terms of the Court order. The Court order said that MP Faris must be kept in a remand jail, as designated by Home Ministry. However, neither jails in Maafushi or Dhoonidhoo are remand ones.

‘Dhoonidhoo jail is not a remand jail. He cannot be kept there. Faris believes that one does not have to cooperate with an investigation that is based on flawed grounds,’ Maumoon Hameed said.

However, he assured that MP Faris will gladly cooperate if the investigation was run legally.

Maumoon Hameed added that Police had met MP Faris on Saturday without his legal representation and changed the timings of the investigation. As such the investigation was supposed to be carried out after the hearing, but changed to 9am. The interview concluded at 10.30.

The lawyer speculated that this was done to prevent MP Faris from preparing for the hearings at Criminal Court at 11am.

Faris Maumoon is facing allegations of bribing parliamentarians ahead of a vote of no-confidence against parliament speaker Abdulla Maseeh and during the passing of a bill which raised the number of signatures required to pursue no-confidence motions against parliament speakers and their deputies in April.

Father and former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom had slammed these allegations, stating that there was no evidence to back the claims. He said that MP Faris had no motive or means to bribe his fellow Parliamentarians.