AG advises police not to attend Government Oversight Committee

Attorney General (AG) Aishath Azima Shakoor has advised the police not to attend the Parliament Committee on Oversight of the Government, as it does not have authority to investigate matters that come under the mandate of the Committee on Security Services (241 Committee).

This advice was given in relation to a request by Commissioner of Police Abdullah Riyaz, after police officers were summoned to the Government Oversight Committee on several occasions.

Following this, Riyaz has sent a letter to Parliament Speaker Abdullah Shahid indicating that henceforth, neither police officers nor the police commissioner will attend the Government Oversight Committee.

Meanwhile, the committee has decided to summon Riyaz and Home Minister Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed in relation to the Civil Court ruling against the police’s decision to not cooperate with Raajje TV.

Home Ministry has requested the committee to postpone the summon date, as the minister has to attend cabinet meetings and will be out of Male’ for the rest of the week.

The police have attended the Government Oversight Committee on all occasions except when summoned in relation to the committee’s investigation of the report of the Commission of National Inquiry (CNI). Before the AG’s advice, the committee had also summoned a police officer who used a baton to stop a person on a motorcycle, who ended up colliding with another person on a stationary motorcycle causing a fatal accident.