Police investigations cannot be hindered through threats of a parliament committee inquiry: CP

Commissioner of Police Abdulla Riyaz has said that police investigations will not hindered through threats of a parliamentary committee inquiry.

The Commissioner’s remarks follow recent statements by Thoddoo MP Ali Waheed on local media where, after the police had questioned his father in relation to corruption case implicating the MP, he had said that the commissioner will be summoned to the Committee on Oversight of the Government.

Speaking on a video published on the Police website yesterday, Commissioner Riyaz said that the relevant institutions had always the authority to summon and question him throughout the investigation of the said corruption case and that the lack of such a inquiry speaks for itself.

He said that the parliament committees and branches that can probe the police are clearly defined in the parliament's regulation and that they will not cooperate in an inquiry that occurs outside those regulations.

“Police’s work cannot be stopped in any way, even by saying that (I will be) summoned to the parliament. A complaint lodged to the police, regardless of whom it might involve, regardless of the person’s level of seniority, the case will continue. Police will carry out their responsibility through the discretion granted to them by the laws. Police will not discriminate between the less fortunate and people in senior positions. Everyone is equal before the law, and no one can influence (the police) by threatening to summon to the parliament. We are braver than that,” Commissioner Abdulla Riyaz said.

The Parliament Committee on the Oversight of the Government had decided last Thursday (18th July) to summon Commissioner Riyaz to the committee, claiming that his appointment as the Commissioner of Police was unlawful. However, the inquiry was been postponed following a letter received by the Speaker of the Parliament Abdulla Shahid, which accused the committee of trying to investigate a case that involved criminal matters.

Sun is aware that the Police and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) are jointly investigating a case where MP Ali Waheed purchased a piece of land in Male’ for a sum of MVR 7.9 million in October 2011.

Police had questioned Ali Waheed’s parents - his father Mohamed Waheed and mother Zuhra Abdullah - who had both chosen remain silent.