The press has been barred from entering Monday’s sitting of the parliament’s review committee on public finances.

The parliament’s security personnel informed journalist and camera crew, after having informed them of the sitting, that they cannot enter.

The decision was made on the grounds of the ongoing state of emergency in the Maldives, they said.

The parliament’s review committee, which was held at 11:00 am on Monday, was to discuss a number of matters.

Parliamentarians at the committee discussed:

• Hiring an independent auditor to review year-end finances for the Auditor General’s Office
• Discussion of the state’s request for ‘mid-fiscal and loan strategy’
• Discussing a letter put forth by the Maldives Media Council, and organizing the council’s summon to the committee.
• Discussion of documents that have to do with the Finance Ministry’s ‘loan and sovereign guarantees’
• Administrative matters

The ongoing political tension in the Maldives has amounted to a multitude of obstructions to the conduct of parliament.

The parliament’s inaugural sitting was held must later than the pre-decided date and there have been extraordinary sittings held from which lawmakers have been forcefully removed, and over half boycotted.