Ghassan Maumoon decides to take legal action against Presidential Commission Spokesperson

Ghassan Maumoon, son of former President Maumoon Abdul Qayyoom has decided to take legal action against Abdullah Haseen, the Spokesperson for the Presidential Commission, for speaking in the media that a huge sum of money from the state treasury had been spent on a cover up, following an accident and a death that occurred years ago in England in which was involved.

Speaking to reporters at the office of Whale Submarine, Ghassan’s lawyer Mohamed “Waddey” Waheed said that Haseen had spoken an outright lie, and that a lawsuit would be filed at the Civil Court for defamation. “Abdullah Haseen is trying to hide the incompetence and incapability of him, the Presidential Commission, and his government. We are not going to make any compromises here, and the case will be filed at the Civil Court as soon as possible”, Waddey said. He did not, however, give any details about when it would be filed. “We will, God willing, prove that just as Haseen has the right to protect his reputation, Ghassan does too. Ghassan did not kill any person”, said Waddey, referring to the implied accusation that a man was killed in the accident for which Ghassan was responsible. “We will also file a case at the police to request investigation of this criminal accusation”, Waddey added.

Denying the statements of Haseen, Waddey said that the Presidential Commission had never questioned Ghassan or a family member about the issue, and that when former Foreign Minister Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, who was in office during the incident in question, was summoned before a Majlis Committee and questioned, he assured that no funds had been taken from the treasury for any such purpose as claimed.

Abdulla Haseen, the spokesperson for the Commission told Sun today that Ghassan was involved in the accident in question and that many have filed complaints with the Commission requesting a thorough investigation in to the matter as public funds had been inappropriately used to save the day for Ghassan. “A man died in the accident, and Ghassan, former President Gayyoom’s son, was involved in the accident. Accusations have been made that Gayyoom’s government illegally used money from the government treasury to ensure that Ghassan was cleared out of the mess”, said Haseen. He also said that the enquiry had been going on for a long time and that the Commission had been obtaining full support from the British authorities, though he did not give any specifics about those authorities.

The Presidential Commission was created after current President Mohamed Nasheed swore in during the year 2008, with the mandate of investigating allegations of corruption during the Presidency of Maumoon Abdul Qayyoom. The Commission created in addition to the Maldives’ Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), an independent, statutory body authorized to investigate all corruption in the country, both past and present, consisted of President Nasheed’s close allies and party activists. The Commission has been active since then, for almost 3 years, without ever being able to prove any allegations of corruption against Gayyoom’s government.