Some lawmakers who recently defected from Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) to Jumhooree Party (JP) were near the police headquarters on Saturday, voicing support for former President Abdulla Yameen.
Yameen presented himself to the police on Saturday afternoon, as per the summon sent on Thursday, for questioning over money laundering allegations.
While members of both PPM and the Joint-Party Coalition took to the streets on Saturday, with the latter calling for the former president’s arrest, the lawmakers joined them near the police headquarters after the parliament sitting was adjourned.
Photos circulating on social media show that this includes some former PPM members that recently defected to JP, including Vilufushi constituency MP Riyaz Rasheed, Faresmaathodaa constituency MP Hussain Mohamed Latheef and Guraidhoo constituency MP Hussain Mohamed Dhon Manik.
All three were appointed to parliament under PPM tickets, but recently joined Jumhooree Party. They handed their membership forms directly to party leader Qasim Ibrahim.
While JP had just seven representatives in parliament at the time of this year’s presidential election, it has since risen to 22. Most of those that signed recently are from PPM, after its leader lost his bid for reelection.
The party now has majority in parliament, overtaking Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) which has 19 representatives in parliament.
Former President Yameen was summoned to the police for questioning over the money deposited to his private bank account during the 2018 presidential elections campaign.
A money laundering case was filed against Yameen in mid-September, by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) at the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA).
The former president has faced multiple corruption allegations throughout his tenure, including receiving millions of dollars through Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC), the company implicated in the biggest embezzlement case in the Maldives’ history.
Later on Saturday, police confirmed that bank accounts linked to the former president has been frozen, with over MVR 100 million seized.
