Family of former Controller of Immigration Mohamed Shammaan Waheed has alleged that he had been dismissed from his position after Minister of Homeland Security and Technology Ali Ihusan learned that Shammaan possessed a video of him.
A statement released by the family following Ihusan's comments regarding Shammaan during yesterday's parliament sitting stated that it is no coincidence that Shammaan was dismissed, and then arrested on March 20. The family raised serious allegations against the Minister regarding events that had occurred prior to the dismissal.
The family alleged that the day before the dismissal, a Bangladeshi man with connections to Ihusan had been taken into detention by Immigration. They said that following this, Ihusan had called Shammaan and instructed him to hand over the phone of the Bangladeshi man to a specific police officer.
Shammaan responded that this could only be done once the Minister makes an official written request, at which point Ihusan had yelled at him and hung up the phone, the family said.
They accuse the Bangladeshi man of being involved in many acts of corruption conducted by the ministry. The family maintains that Shammaan was dismissed out of fear that he may release to the public details of Ihusan's corruption.
Another reason Ihusan wanted Shammaan's dismissal is related to a video of Ihusan in Shammaan's possession, the family said.
'Shammaan has been arrested and placed in indefinite detention through absolutely false allegations and fabricated evidence due to personal hatred,' the statement reads.
In parliament yesterday, MP for South Hulhumale' Ahmed Shamheed asked the minister if Shammaan is being detained in relation to a personal problem that arose between him and the minister, as is being rumoured.
Responding to this, Ihusan confirmed that he had had good relations with Shammaan when they had worked together. Regardless, he said, when there is a breach of law, personal relations do not exempt anyone from being brought to justice.
"We do not consider a person's status or which position they are in. The law does not know a person's designation. So, when we are implementing the law, we do not consider what position they may be holding," he said.
The family responded to these statements saying Ihusan's words indirectly aimed at Shammaan further demonstrate the contempt he holds towards him.
They revealed that when Shammaan had applied to Police for his criminal record in order to register an NGO, Police had issued a report on February 2 in which it said a money laundering case was being investigated against Shammaan. However, Shammaan raised this issue with Ihusan as no such accusations have been officially levied against Shammaan to date.
At the time, Ihusan had told Shammaan that it had been an administrative error, the family said. Ihusan had allegedly immediately summoned the Commissioner of Police and instructed him to amend Shammaan's criminal record. A criminal record issued later, on February 5, showed Shammaan as having no record.
The family said that even after this, unlawful actions by Ihusan had obstructed the administrative work of Immigration. This includes Ihusan attempting to use Immigration's procurement process against the Public Finance Act and having his secretary call Immigration's budget section's senior officials and attempting to commit illegal acts, the family alleged.
Shamaan is currently under remand in custody until the end of trial following accusations that he had freed an expatriate detainee in exchange for MVR 500,000, which was received by other Immigration officers who had then taken the money to his residence. The appeal hearings in the case have now been completed.
