Out of country on night of Yumnu fall incident: Ameen

Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation Mohamed Ameen has today stated that he had been out of the country on the night of Hawwa Yumnu Rasheed's fall from a building.

The minister stated this to refute allegations on social media that he had been present at an apartment at H. Fentenoy at the time of the incident.

Yumnu, of G. Ranauraage, was found fallen from what Police has said is a fanlight on the 9th floor stairwell of H. Fentenoy on to the roof of an adjacent warehouse on April 18.

CCTV footage from inside Fentenoy on the night of the incident shown by Police at a press conference shows a pair of brown shoes in front of one apartment.

In two clips of the footage, the placing of the shoes change. This led to speculation on social media about who the shoes belonged to, and why it had moved. Some social media users later posted photos of Ameen attending an event wearing shoes of the same colour, giving rise to rumours that the shoes seen in the footage belonged to him.

Mihaaru News posed the question to Ameen, who responded that at the time of the incident, he had been on a flight travelling back to Maldives after attending an ICAO Facilitation Conference held in Doha, Qatar.

He said that he had returned to Maldives at 8:50am on April 18, having left to Doha on the 16th.

Based on CCTV footage shared by Police, Yumnu's fall from the building had occurred between 4:30am and 5:30 am on April 18.

Ameen said that as well as not being in Male', he was also unaware of any such incident. He said that he had tickets and documentation to support this.

Meanwhile, in the series of protests being staged by youth calling for justice for Yumnu, they accuse Ameen of exerting undue influence on the investigation. Protestors are also calling for Ameen's resignation.

Ameen dismissed these allegations, stating he has not attempted to influence the investigation. He further claimed that he had no reason to resign.

"The reason why I should not resign is because I believe, and in fact, I have no involvement in this. Because there is not even an ounce of involvement, and because I am confident that I have done nothing to attempt to obstruct any investigation," Ameen said.

Ameen has rejected the allegations against him previously as well.

Prior to going to Fentenoy, Yumnu and a group of young individuals had first gone to the building Ameen resides in.

He said then that a gathering had been held in the building he resides in in the early hours of April 18. However, he said that the building is not solely his, with it being registered to himself and three siblings.

He said that the gathering had not been held in a place under his control, and that he had only become aware of events in the afternoon of April 18. He stated that he cannot control any activities that occur outside of his own apartment.