PO accepted Shameem’s resignation before Majlis vote

The President’s Office (PO) had already accepted former Prosecutor General (PG) Hussain Shameem’s resignation letter, by the time the People’s Majlis took a vote to dismiss him.

After Shameem had already tendered his resignation, the People’s Majlis voted to dismiss him, after debating on the Judiciary Committee report during a sitting held on August 22.

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 during a sitting that commenced at 9am on August 22 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.

Despite Nazim having claimed that the parliament was not notified, the President’s Office had confirmed that they received and accepted Shameem’s letter by then.

As such, PO had replied to the email, six minutes past 9pm that night.

This has paved the path for questions to arise over the haste in voting to remove Shameem as PG.