MPs from PPM and PNC meets with Chief of Staff of President’s Office to discuss former President Yameen’s Trial

The Chief of Staff of the President's Office, Uz. Ali Zahir concluded his meeting with Members of Parliament representing the Progressive Party of Maldives and People's National Congress on Monday. 
 
The meeting was held to discuss and address rising concerns from the MPs and the general public regarding the litigation and trial of former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom. 
 
The Spark of controversy ignites as the concerns raised during the meeting, led by the MP for Lhaviyani Atoll Naifaru, Ahmed Shiyam, becomes a matter of public record. The MPs made staggering allegations that the President, the Government and especially the Chief of Staff were unjustly and unduly influencing the outcome of former President Yameen's trial and litigation, based on an audio recording of unknown origin that surfaced in the media recently.  
 
The MPs make further claims that the voices heard in the audio recording belongs to a shocking three of the five judges making up the Criminal Court's five-member bench, who issued the allegedly unjust sentence against former President Yameen concluding his trial in 2019. The MPs also claimed that they allegedly possess knowledge of further unreleased audio of the Chief of Staff directly influencing the verdict. The MPs closing remarks questioned the motives of the Government in the surprising lack of a response to any of the allegations posed by the newly surfaced audio clips. 
 
The Chief of Staff firmly stands his ground and denies that; President Solih, the current administration, nor he, directly or indirectly made any attempts in any way to influence judges or any trial ever since taking office, and further had provided absolute autonomy to the judiciary in general. Challenging the claims and allegations against the Government not responding to the allegations posed by the audios, the Chief of Staff stated that the audio's origin is unknown and therefore cannot be determined as credible evidence.  
 
Furthermore, Uz Ali Zahir asked the MPs to produce the unreleased audio referred to by the team, if they have any, to prove that he had been directly or indirectly involved in any way in influencing the trial of former President Yameen. 
 
The Chief of Staff’s closing remarks reassures the MPs as well as the general public that President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's administration respects the separation of powers and the sanctity of democratic institutions. He also reiterated that the current administration had, from day one, upheld the pledge to reform the judiciary and provide full autonomy for independent institutions.