Committee decides to proceed with PG's dismissal

Parliament’s judiciary committee has decided to proceed with the motion to dismiss Prosecutor General (PG) Aishath Bisham.

Committee member and Fonadhoo constituency MP, Moosa Siraj, announced this via Twitter. He said that the committee made the decision at Tuesday’s meeting.

While the judiciary committee began work to dismiss the PG earlier, it had decided to halt the work.

Hinnavaru constituency MP Jeehaan Mahmood, also a member of the judiciary committee, had said that the work was halted due to procedural issues.

While the impeachment motion had been proposed to the committee, Jeehaan made the proposal to pause the impeachment motion as a number of members were absent from the meeting, as well as due to the fact that their input is important to conduct such an enormous task.

The MP had stressed the importance “of following procedures.”

PG Bisham had faced various allegations during former President Abdulla Yameen’s tenure, including allowing the government to influence the PG Office’s work.

She denies the allegations, saying that neither then President Abdulla Yameen nor anyone else had requested her to proceed with cases in a particular way, and added that all her decisions were made “independently and without bias.”

Bisham was appointed to the post in November 2015. She had previously served as a legal affairs secretary at the president’s office, as well as the special advisor to the president.

The current opposition describes her as “a political sellout.”