Prominent lawyer, and nephew of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Maumoon Hameed has said that Maldives Police Service (MPS) did not have the legal grounds to question the former president.

He made the comment after Maumoon was questioned at his office on Thursday, regarding missing documents from the former head office of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).

Noting that the police “had no legal grounds” to question Maumoon, Hameed said that the officer who did so had “committed a crime.”

“Literally criminals in uniform?” he asked.

The former President tweeted on Thursday, that he was questioned by “very polite” officers regarding the missing hard disk.

However, Hameed said that it did not matter how polite they were, adding that the officers had “exercised a power they did not have, and thereby committed a crime.”

Maumoon said, also via twitter, that he had told the officers that he knew “nothing” and that “they must question those who things illegally and by force” from their office.

President Abdulla Yameen’s faction PPM, filed a case at the Civil Court, who despite not having the jurisdiction to do so, ruled that the party be handed over to the President, party’s chief advisor.

The half-brothers, Maumoon and Yameen have been fighting over party leadership since June 2016.