Ali Waheed says “time will tell the truth” as police launches sexual abuse inquiry

Tourism Minister Ali Waheed says that the “time will tell the truth”, following sexual abuse allegations.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, earlier on Wednesday night, asked the minister to resign from the post. The Chief Communications Strategist at the President’s Office, Ibrahim Hood had said that this was following complaints regarding ‘inappropriate behavior’ at the ministry.

While he did not reveal any further details on the matter including the nature of the complaints, Ali Razzan, the senior executive director at the ministry tweeted gratitude to the president for proving the government’s zero tolerance policy to sexual harassment.

A senior official at the ministry, who wished to remain anonymous, told RaajjeMV that the minister had sexually abused a number of the ministry’s female employees. The official accused the minister of abusing the women inside his cabin at office, as well as taking female employees to resort to sexually abuse them. Waheed is also accused of talking to employees in an inappropriate manner, using secret chat apps.

Noting that a senior official at the ministry had brought this to the president’s attention, after learning of the experiences of two of Waheed’s alleged victims, the official said that an initial overview of the case shows that this has been going on for some time.

While the president, along with Gender Minister Aishath Mohamed Didi and the Chief of Staff at the President’s Office Ali Zahir had met with the victims on Wednesday evening to hear their experiences, the official said both the president and gender minister ‘were in tears after listening to their stories’.

However, Waheed, via Twitter, said that “time will tell the truth” and that “truth will always prevail”.

While he seems to be denying the allegations, police have since confirmed that it is investigating claims of sexual abuse within the tourism ministry. No further details were shared including those accused.