President Yameen's 'best friend' sends out first tweet since 2013, attaches poem by father

On Wednesday, jailed parliamentarian Ahmed Nazim sent out his first tweet since 2013 while still abroad after travelling on a medical leave.

Nazim attached a poem that speaks of about the nature of companionship being temporary and based on greed and benefit. The poem is said to have been written by his father, Mohamed Manik, on 11th February of 1993.

The poem, called ‘Dhuniyeyge Aadha’ which loosely translates to the ‘the way of the world’, says that one who expects appreciation for sacrifices in life will only be disappointed.

The poet further compares friendship to the relationship between a farmer and his crops, where the crop is first encouraged to grow and ‘blossom’ only to be struck down and discarded after it is used.

Before he was sentenced to 25 years in prison on corruption allegations, Nazim was considered a close associate of incumbent president Abdulla Yameen. Members of the opposition would even refer to them as ‘best friends’ in jest.

Nazim, who had also served as the deputy speaker of parliament, was found guilty of embezzling MVR 1.4 million from the state.

Prosecution alleged that Nazim had submitted proposals for state projects in the name of non-existent companies.

The case had reached the apex court after the High Court acquitted him on the grounds that witnesses produced by the prosecution were his employees, and thus accomplices from whom testimony is inadmissible.

The Supreme Court sentenced Nazim on April 6th, 2015. In January of the following year, Nazim was given permission to leave the country for medical purposes.

Since then, he had filed three requests to extend his medical leave. Two of them were granted and the third was rejected in May, 2016.

Nazim had initially been in Singapore but his current whereabouts are unknown. The opposition have accused the government of allowing him to flee.