Maumoon considers suing brother Yameen over ‘false’ bribery claims

Former Maldivian president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom on Friday denied allegations by his younger half-brother, former president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, that he was forced to arrest Maumoon in 2018 because he bribed Supreme Court judges, adding that he was considering pursuing legal action over the “baseless” claims.

In an interview earlier this week to ‘Adhadhu’, Yameen claimed that he jailed his older brother, Maumoon, because he bribed Supreme Court judges to have them issue a controversial order on February 1, 2018, for the release of political detainees. He alleged that both Maumoon and his eldest son, Ahmed Faris Maumoon, had masterminded the alleged bribery scheme, with funding from then-Kaashidhoo MP Abdulla Jabir.

The order came with Yameen up for re-election in 2018 - a year marked by political upheaval in the Maldives.

In a statement on Friday night, Maumoon denied the allegations against him, describing it as “low-grade claims” designed to harm his reputation.

Maumoon issued a blanket denial of any link between him and the February 1 order.

He said that he never bribed any judges into issuing an order or judgement, whether Supreme Court or otherwise.

“Whether during President Yameen’s administration or before or after it, President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has never offered money or anything else as a bribe to any judge in any court in the Maldives or any other state official,” he said.

Maumoon said that he was considering legal action over the allegations.

The notorious February 1 order, signed by five Supreme Court judges, instructed the release of opposition political leaders who were detained at the time; former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed, Jumhoory Party (JP) leader Qasim Ibrahim, Adhaalath Party (AP) leader Imran Abdulla, former Maldivian vice president Ahmed Adeeb Abdul Gafoor, Faris who was an incumbent parliamentarian at the time, and former defense minister Colonel (Retired) Mohamed Nazim.

The incident came at a time of intense political turmoil in the Maldives. The order was never enforced, as Yameen declared a state of emergency and had two of the Supreme Court judges dismissed, after which the court revised the order to omit the part instructing the release of opposition leaders.

Maumoon was arrested shortly after, on February 5, 2018, and was sentenced to one year in seven months in prison for obstruction of justice for refusing to surrender his phone to investigators. He was acquitted by the High Court on October 18, 2018, a month after Yameen lost re-election to former president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.