Yameen vows to use freedom to hold govt accountable

The most important task will be to hold the government accountable for working against the principles he believes in politically, former President Abdullah Yameen Abdul Gayoom said Thursday.

After the High Court quashed his 11-year jail sentence and ordered a retrial, Yameen told reporters outside the court house that his top priority would be to hold the government accountable.

When asked by a journalist if he intends to work with President Mohammed Muizzu, Yameen said this government has taken away the reason for the formation of the PPM and what the party stands for.

"It's things like giving ministerial portfolios to people without merit, creating many political positions [giving jobs] to people who don't have any level of politics, there are many educated young people, it's not something that should be awarded to certain families, whether with or without merit. It's about selling the acquired lands in the Maldives, so many things that I can't believe myself".

Yameen said the government cannot be held accountable while in the party as there have been so many things that cannot be accepted by the party's ideology, presumably explaining why he left PPM and formed PNF.

“A political party has the pulse of the people in it,” said Yameen, who left the PPM after serving as its president.

Yameen said that while the law says that those sentenced to one year in prison will not be able to fill a senior position in any political party, the general members of PPM did not want him to step down as the party president. But the party's Senate and senior leaders did not want it, he said.

He said he would not say he would not work with the PPM/PNC and would speak on the merits of the case.

Without any basis, he said he would not support the removal of the President and the removal of ministers because of a majority in parliament.

"But we will be very firm if public property is treated unfairly or the people are harmed in any way," Yameen said, adding that he would not support the government in such matters.

"That's what we're doing now. We're not going out and personally criticising President Muizzu. We're criticising the work he's doing”.

The 'India Out' campaign to withdraw Indian troops from Maldives is no longer heard, he remarked.

He also criticised President Muizzu for not cancelling the resolution issued by former President Ibrahim Mohammed Solih to prevent the former opposition and now ruling PPM/PNC from continuing its 'India Out' campaign.

Yameen also said that he would file a police complaint for removing the India Out Banner from his residence.

Yameen said the appeal against his sentence has been delayed too long and many rights have been lost.

"...the President of our country also said that the MDP is influencing the courts, and has influenced to rush it today. So it means that he waited for this to happen," he said.

He said he has been deprived of many rights for the past six years.

“I believed at first but I always had conviction that hopefully none of this will be proven,” he said.

Yameen said there were not many concerns about not contesting the presidential election.

He said the right of appeal was also lost due to the indefinite delay in the case and the failure of the lower court to issue the required documents for the cases that could be appealed procedurally.

“If the case had been investigated, the Criminal Court would have been forced to reverse its decision”.

"I lost a lot of my rights”.

Yameen said that if justice is not served, then he believes that it is the chief justice’s job to ask for justice to be expedited.