Row between Ilyas Labeeb and Riyaz Rasheed brings Parliament committee meeting to a halt

Parliament Public Accounts Committee was brought to a halt today following a row between Hulhumeedhoo MP Ilyas Labeeb and Vilufushi MP Riyaz Rasheed.

A disagreement arose during the committee’s debate of the issue of allowing guarantees for obtaining government loans, after MP Riyaz Rasheed accused MP Ilyas Labeeb of “swindling money through a utilities company.”

“Ilyas Labeeb and his family swindled the most amount of money. Swindled the most amount of money, it is apparent here, they did this by setting up utilities companies in Addu, The BiWater money was taken by his brother.”

After the accusation, the committee’s chairman and deputy speaker of the parliament MP Mohamed Nazim advised Riyaz Rasheed to refrain from making personal statements. Ilyas Labeeb then retorted, directed allegation towards Riyaz Rasheed and said, “you are the person who had swindled all the oil money in the country.”

Labeeb accused Riyaz Rasheed of illegally dealing MVR 19.3 million worth of oil from the State Trading Organization (STO), said that these were blatant actions of corruption, and that such actions will not be tolerated.

The argument increased in tension when Riyaz Rasheed made a statement directed at Ilyas Labeeb’s mother which prompted Labeeb to rise from his seat and walk over to Riyaz Rasheed and pointed his finger in Riyaz’s face, and the two continued to quarrel.

Both members continued their argument even while proceeding to the Parliament Chambers, after the committee meeting was adjourned.

Except for a debate on obtaining government loans and allowing guarantees, the Parliament Public Accounts committee was able to do little work due to the argument between the two MPs.