Maldives pres cites national security to keep lid on Turkish drone deal
The drone service was launched on the 16th of this month. Three UAVs were unveiled at a ceremony held at N.Maafaru International Airport.
By
Mohamed Muzayyin Nazim
President Mohammed Muizzu has said that the government is not disclosing the details of the transaction of UAVs or military drones recently purchased by the government to maintain the country's economic zone for the sake of national security and asserted there is no corruption in it.
President Muizzu made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Mihaaru newspaper on Wednesday amid criticism that the government has not disclosed the details of drones purchased.
"There will be no [corruption] in the drone thing or any other project. This is directly related to national security. And the media is coming up with different numbers, even the prices of drones," he said.
"If there is corruption, everyone will be able to check. This government will not commit any act of corruption. I give full assurance. And if anyone does anything like that, I will take action against that person”.
The President said the transaction was not disclosed because senior officials in the Defense Ministry had advised him to do so. This is not the kind of information that is disclosed in any country, he said.
“The Chief of Defense, the other generals and ministers all advised that we should not officially disclose the details of these drones, not even how many we have,” he said.
"The number of military equipment in any country and its details will not be fully made public. It is for national security. So because it is related to national security, we do not disclose the details”.
The drone service was launched on the 16th of this month. Three UAVs were unveiled at a ceremony held at N.Maafaru International Airport.
““We saw three UAVs here, but hopefully it will be much more thanks to our closeness to him [Turkey President Erdogan] and [the extent to which] our military strengthens,” the president said at the ceremony that evening.
That evening, the President said that most of the equipment were donated as free aid by Turkey. However, he did not elaborate on it either.
In the 'Mihaaru' interview, the President added:
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He said he received some of it free at the ceremony because some people said he had bought them at high prices
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He also wished to disclose the Turkish president and his country's assistance
"So I intend to speak this much on the topic. I certainly do not intend to hide anything, I will not hide anything. But the independence of the country is important for everyone," he said.
The opposition MDP alleges that the drone was bought at a high price to funnel funds for the upcoming parliamentary elections campaign. The party also called on the institutions to investigate the matter.
