Parliament sends no-confidence vote notice to Minister Ameen

The parliament, in line with its regulations, has sent Transport Minister Mohamed Ameen an official notice of the no-confidence vote against him.

A senior official of the parliament confirmed the notice was sent to the minister on Wednesday.

The no-confidence vote was requested to the parliament with signatures from 12 members from the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), on Tuesday.

According to the parliament's regulations, a minister has to be notified of the no-confidence vote against them at least 14 days prior to the debate on the matter. The minister would also have to be given the opportunity to submit a written response to the allegations against them.

While the parliament's first term for the year would conclude on May 15, the parliament is reportedly working to recess after deciding on Ameen's case.

MDP's parliamentary group submitted the no-confidence case against Ameen after he was tied to the case of Hawwa Yumn Rasheed, a 21 year old woman found fallen on to the roof of a warehouse on April 18.

In the no-confidence request, it was said that the case involves Ameen's relatives and that those involved in the case had participated in a drug-fuelled party at the minister's residence in MA. Maandhooge Dhekunuge. It was also alleged that police initially tried to cover up Ameen's involvement to the case and that the information about the search operation of Ameen's house was also kept under wraps.

The no-confidence motion also said it was evident Ameen had influenced police to protect his relatives from a conviction. The MPs said Ameen had violated the law by using the power he holds as minister to advance his interest. However, Ameen has previously denied all such allegations.

According to Ameen, a gathering was held at the building he lives in, and said the building did not belong to him alone, but that it is co-owned by him and three siblings.

Ameen also said he was not in Maldives the night of the incident, and that he arrived in Maldives on Friday morning from an official visit to Qatar. He said the incident occurred on his way to Malé after concluding the ICAO Facilitation Conference 2025 held by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in Doha, Qatar.

According to Ameen, he arrived in Malé at 08:50 am on Friday morning after the official trip which spanned across April 16-18, the same morning Yumnu was found fallen onto the roof.

According to police, Yumnu fell some time between 04:30 and 05:30 that morning.

Although he denies any involvement in the case, it has been revealed that police were unable to get any cctv footage from that night at his residence.

When asked by the media, police said they were informed that the building's cctv cameras were broken.

"And police did what was possible to verify this, and confirmed that cctv footage was not available," police said on Monday night.

Ameen has not responded to this specific claim.

Earlier, police conducted a search of the building's terrace as well as the second and fourth floor. The third floor of another house, G. Kashiveli was also searched in connection to the case.

However, these searches were carried out about four days after the incident, and police said nothing was found in the premises.