Umar: Will not succeed in the efforts to put me to jail

Former Home Minister Umar Naseer has stated that the government will not succeed in its efforts to jail him.

Speaking to Sun, Umar accused the government of trying to put him in jail – adding that their efforts in this avenue will not result in success.

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has requested the Prosecutor General’s Office for charges against Umar, stating an investigation uncovered corruption in the award of a government contract to procure electronic tags to monitor criminals. 

The contract to procure electronic tags was awarded to Stalwart Maldives in 2015 – when he had been serving as Home Minister. 

Umar said that it is evident that jailing him is Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) thinking, by a statement made by Bilehdhoo MP Ahmed Haleem (Dhonbileh) in last year’s December.

Speaking at a television broadcast by Channel 13, Dhonbileh had said that Umar is not preparing for 2023’s presidential elections, but rather preparing to go to jail.

“During MDP’s Nasheed’s administration, a case against me was sent to Criminal Court in an effort to jail me. Criminal Court did not issue an arrest warrant – to that decision was appealed to Supreme Court as well. Before that to High Court,” Umar had said.

He also described charges being requested against him for the purpose of slashing down the number of candidates that will contest in 2023’s presidential elections.

Speaking further, Umar said that even if charges are pressed against him – he has full guarantee that it will not be proven in court as the courts will not issue their judgment however the government would like.

“As I believe, Maldivian courts will not act in accordance to what is requested of them by the government,” he added.

Umar stressed that he has full trust in the whole judiciary system and the Supreme Court.