The former Commissioner of Police Abdulla Riyaz on Monday countered the president’s allegations that jailed former Minister of Defence Mohamed Nazim had attempted to compromise the sovereignty and independence of the nation by establishing a regime under foreign influence.
Speaking at a ceremony of ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) on Sunday, President Yameen claimed that Nazim had tried to establish a rule with foreign influence prior to the Presidential Elections 2013.
He accused Nazim of forming a “dangerous agreement” called the Troika Agreement which was allegedly signed by the leaders of political parties. According to the president, the agreement stipulated that, if a president was not elected by the deadline in 2013, an election was to be held within 60 days as stated in the Constitution. The agreement further called for the rule to be handed over to the parliament speaker until a president could be appointed via interim arrangements. The agreement further mandated to keep the sitting Police Commissioner and defence minister in their posts until the elections ended.
President Yameen proclaimed that even he, who at the time was PPM’s parliamentary group leader, had been asked to sign the agreement. He declared that he had refused, saying that it would be impossible without a decision by PPM’s council.
The then Police Commissioner Abdulla Riyaz on Monday refuted the president’s claims as false allegations. A close friend of former defence minister Nazim, Riyaz demanded why President Yameen had chosen Nazim as the first defence minister of his administration while describing him as someone who had tried to comprise the sovereignty of the Maldives.
Riyaz declared that he has not heard of Nazim making an agreement to bring about such a rule as accused by President Yameen. However, he did note that nations such as India and the United States had closely followed the Presidential Elections 2013 amidst the Maldives' political tensions and carried out discussions regarding the elections.
Nazim is currently serving an 11 year sentence for weapons possessions after a pistol was found in his residence. However, Police had announced after his conviction that while Nazim’s fingerprints had not been found on the weapon, they had recovered DNA belonging to former Vice President Adheeb from the pistol.
Adheeb had also recently declared in a letter to the Chief Justice that he knows the truth behind the pistol along with three bullets found in Nazim’s house, stating that Nazim had no knowledge of them. Claiming to be aware of the reasons behind the incident, the perpetrators and others involved in it, Adheeb proclaimed that he is prepared to testify in court and expose the whole truth to the public.
Hence, Nazim’s family and lawyers have repeatedly slammed the authorities for refusing to reopen Nazim’s case despite enough evidence to assert that Nazim was framed and innocent.
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