Department of Judicial Administration (DJA) has denied Attorney General (AG) Ibrahim Riffath’s claim that the judges had requested to personally meet foreign consultant Johann Kriegler.

Johann Kriegler, a retired South African Justice, was appointed by the AG to conduct an assessment of the Maldives judiciary.

In a press conference on Monday, DJA’s chancellor of judicial academy Ahmed Majid said that an official from the AG office was assigned to the meeting between the judges and Kriegler, but that he had failed to come to the meeting.

This comes after the Supreme Court accused Kriegler of threatening judges during the meeting.

In a press release, the Supreme Court statedthat Kriegler told the judges to hand over their resignation, as there was a plan to dismiss them and that the courthouse would be overhauled even if it means changing the Constitution.

The court also claimed that Kriegler had told the judges that he would recommend that all Maldivian judges be dismissed.

In response, AG Riffath told RaajjeMV that he was disappointed to see the Supreme Court defaming Kriegler.

Riffath saidthat many organizations including the United Nations have called for a reform of the Maldives judiciary and that releasing such a statement would not regain any of the judiciary’s public trust and will further make the public suspicious.