Majlis dismisses PG, says resignation was not received

At a time Prosecutor General (PG) Hussain Shameem had already tendered his resignation, the People’s Majlis has voted to dismiss him, after debating on the Judiciary Committee report at Thursday’s sitting.

The news of Shameem’s resignation was already covered by local media houses, while the debate was proceeding at the People’s Majlis on Thursday night.

The final vote on the no-confidence motion was held at 9am on Thursday and Shameem tendered his resignation not long after the sitting began.

MP for Hanimaadhoo constituency representing the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Abdul Ghafoor Moosa attempted to bring to the notice of deputy speaker while the sitting was proceeding, that Shameem had resigned.

Highlighting that local media houses were reporting that Shameem had resigned, MP Ghafoor noted that it was a systematic issue to go ahead with the sitting without clarifying the matter.

However, Deputy Speaker Nazim, who was chairing the sitting, asserted that it was not a systemic issue.

Nazim said the law was very clear and he left after sending the resignation letter to the president.

However, he noted that the President’s Office had not confirmed the resignation with the parliament.

Deputy Speaker Nazim said the President's Office informed him that they had not received the resignation letter even when contacted to clarify whether he had received the resignation letter, after the vote was taken.

65 lawmakers voted in favor of dismissing Shameem as the prosecutor general and nine voted against. One member abstained from the vote.

Shameem was summoned to the judiciary committee on Thursday to respond to the allegations levelled against him.

Parliament convened on Thursday night with the no-confidence motion on the agenda.

Despite Shameem’s request to livestream the meeting, the committee held it behind closed doors.

In his resignation letter, Shameem said that the parliament had publicly declared what he was accused of and that making sure the public could not hear his answer by holding a closed-door meeting, was a violation of the principles of justice as well as the principles of natural justice.

Shameem’s message reads that he has tendered his resignation in protest against this, as per Article 226 of the Constitution of Maldives.

According to the law, the names of the applicants are required to be submitted to the parliament within 30 days to appoint a new PG after the post falls vacant.

The manner in which the parliament conducted the process of removing a "person who is not in office" when Shameem stepped down from his post has been criticized by several members of the public.