PG to be given opportunity to respond to dismissal motion

The parliament’s judiciary committee will give Prosecutor General (PG) Aishath Bisham the opportunity to respond to the allegations against her, as the parliament begins work to dismiss her.

The motion was forwarded for committee review at Wednesday’s sitting.

While the committee members have since met to deliberate on the matter, six members present had voted in favour of summoning her for questioning. One MP, Guraidhoo constituency representative Ibrahim Riza, voted against giving her any additional opportunities, noting that all committee members agree that Bisham has acted unlawfully.

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

She also faced various allegations since then, including allowing the government to influence the PG Office’s work.

She denies the allegations, saying that neither then President Yameen nor anyone else had influenced her work, and added that her decisions were made “independently and without bias.”

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