Defense for jailed Dhiggaru Constituency MP Ahmed Faris Maumoon has put forth 47 witnesses as part of their defense against the identity theft charges raised against the Parliamentarian.

Speaking in a press conference held on Thursday, lawyer Maumoon Hameed said in addition to these 47 witnesses, they had presented 27 pieces of documented evidence.

As such, investigators of the case, members of the Ethics Committee of Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM), Council Members of PPM, Parliament Members, members of Parliament Secretariat, members of Elections Commission and attendees of the press conference on March 22, 2017.

Maumoon said they hoped to demonstrate that MP Faris had not been dismissed from PPM legally. He also said they intended to prove the procedures used to dismiss MP Faris were false. Additionally, the lawyer said they will prove that permission of the Party’s Chief Advisor need not be sought prior to using the flag and logo of the Party.

Maumoon further said they seeks to challenge the case filed by Fonadhoo Constituency MP Abdul Raheem Abdullah on MP Faris, citing that he had no legal standing within PPM to file the case saying that he was the Deputy Leader of the Party.

Citing that other Parliamentarians had acted in the same manner in the past, lawyer Hameed added that no investigation had been carried out on those MPs. Additionally, the lawyer said that Parliament Deputy Speaker Moosa Manik had continued to represent his former Party, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) in Parliament sessions long after he was removed from the Party. This, he said was the same scenario within PPM as well.

Identity theft charges were raised on MP Faris for the alleged illegal use of the logo and flag of ruling Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM). He has denied the charges.

Prosecution had put forward two anonymous witnesses as well as a letter from Elections Commission over MP Faris’ membership status and video footage of press conference MP Faris gave with the logo and flag.

Thursday’s hearings of the case was cancelled as the state had failed to produce one of their two anonymous witnesses.

MP Faris is currently under detention for attempted bribery of fellow Parliamentarians.