MDP voices concerns over PG not ordering probe into fraudulent forms

The legal team of opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has today voiced concerns over the Prosecutor General Abbas Shareef failing to order investigations into the issue of fraudulent party membership forms being submitted to the Elections Commission.

MDP's Legal Director Mahfooz Saeed said today that traditionally, the Prosecutor General has always instructed authorities to conduct investigations into matters that are of public interest.

As an example, he cited the PG recently ordering a probe into the decisions of the settlement committee formed under the previous administration.

He said that while the PG has been seen to order investigations in such cases, it is highly concerning that he has failed to do so in the current case of submitting fraudulent forms, which is a matter of great public concern.

"The protection of every citizen's personal life is a fundamental right guaranteed in the Constitution. It is a fundamental right that is being breached here. Along with that, many criminal acts have been committed, and we have appealed to multiple authorities to conduct investigations into this," he said.

MDP Spokesperson and lawyer Anas Abdul Sattar said that the legal team has also appealed to the PG to order an investigation into the matter.

Anas said that they had made this appeal as the personal information of many citizens had been misused in the submitting of fraudulent forms to increase membership of a specific party.

'People's trust in State institutions will be lost through acts like this ... misuse of personal information, identity theft. Even if to secure this public trust, the PG must expedite an investigation into this matter," Anas said.

MDP has also commenced providing legal assistance to persons who have been registered to political parties without their knowledge or consent. The party said today that as of now, 3000 such complaints have been received.

This includes cases where photos of previous ID Cards had been used, signatures had been forged, and fingerprints had been forged.

The highest criticism for submitting fraudulent forms is currently faced by ruling People's National Congress. The party has since admitted that a number of such forms had been submitted during their recent major membership drives, adding that they did not have the means to vet the thousands of forms brought in by party activists and supporters.

The Elections Commission has previously said that they received 300 such complaints over the past six months. The issues recently came to light with MDP MP Hussain Ziyad (Fitte') being registered to ruling pnc without his knowledge. The Elections Commission has voided that form, stating that Ziyad remains a member of MDP.