Jailed Councillor has lost his seat, decides Thaa Atoll Council

The Thaa Atoll Council has decided that the atoll’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Councillor Maumoon Sulaiman, who was sentenced to four months in prison and fined MVR 5,000 after being convicted of attacking a police officer, has lost his council seat.

Maumoon Sulaiman was sentenced by the Criminal Court on 20 November 2012.

The Act on Decentralisation of the Administrative Divisions of the Maldives states that Council Members will lose their seats if they are serving a sentence of a convicted criminal offence.

A resolution signed and issued by the five-member Thaa Atoll Council in this regard states that a criminal offence sentence has been implemented against Maumoon Sulaiman, and that he had been absent from over seven Council meetings without providing a valid reason for his absence, and that he had thus lost his council membership.

The resolution also stated that the Department of Penitentiary and Rehabilitation Service (DPRS) had informed that Maumoon Sulaiman’s sentence has been implemented.

Vice President of Local Government Authority (LGA) Sujau Hussain said that the resolution, once received by LGA, will be sent to the Elections Commission. He said that the decision of a councillor losing his seat will be finalised by the Elections Commission.

He said that the lower court sentence against Maumoon Sulaiman had been appealed in High Court, but the proceedings had been halted due to some procedural issues.