Reports have surfaced that Jumhooree Party (JP)’s Deputy Leader Mohamed ‘FA’ Fayaz is to be appointed as a controller at the Immigration Office.

While these reports have surfaced through some members of JP, when contacted by RaajjeMV for a comment on the matter, a senior member of the party stated that “it may have already happened”.

Before joining JP in 2013, Fayaz tried to form a political party under the name Maldives Industrial Alliance.

Fayaz also served in senior government posts during the administrations of former Presidents Abdulla Yameen and Dr. Mohamed Waheed, such as Maldives Ambassador to Malaysia during Yameen’s term.

He is also a close ally of Jumhooree Party’s Parliamentary Group leader Abdulla Riyaz as well as former Defense Minister Colonel (Rtd) Mohamed Nazim.

These reports have surfaced at a time President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s new government has drawn criticism from some people over his appointments to some senior government posts.

It is notable that President Solih is making these appointments in contrary to the coalition agreement, which proposed to grant a certain percentage of government jobs to all four parties comprising the coalition, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Jumhooree Party (JP), Adhaalath Party (AP) and former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s Maumoon Reform Movement (MRM).