NEW DELHI: Former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed has dismissed a Washington Post report alleging that the opposition sought $6 million from India to aid in a plot to impeach Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu.
The former Maldives president stated he was unaware of any “serious plot” against President Muizzu and added that India would never support such a move.
“I read with interest today’s Washington Post article.I was unaware of any plot against the President, though some people always live in conspiracy. India would never back such a move, as they always support Maldives’ democracy. India has never dictated terms to us, either,” Mohamed Nasheed wrote on X.
The Washington Post report stated that Maldivian opposition politicians proposed bribing 40 MPs, including those from Muizzu’s own party, to vote to impeach him.
There was no official reaction from MEA to the report that appeared on Monday. Sources in the government , however, strongly denied that India might have played a role in the alleged efforts to oust Muizzu. India’s relations with the strategically located neighbour in the Indian Ocean have been looking up since PM Modi invited Muizzu for his swearing-in in June and the subsequent state visit by the president to India. During his visit to India, Muizzu said in an interview to TOI that he will never do anything to hurt India’s security interests.
“In an internal document titled ‘Democratic Renewal Initiative’ and obtained by The Washington Post, Maldivian opposition politicians proposed bribing 40 MPs, including those from Muizzu’s own party, to vote to impeach him. The document proposed paying 10 senior army and police officers and three powerful criminal gangs to ensure Muizzu’s removal. To pay off the various parties, the conspirators sought 87 million Maldivian rufiyaa, or $6 million, and according to two Maldivian officials, it would be sought from India,” Washington Post report alleged.
The report also claimed that a senior officer from India’s intelligence agency, R&AW, “explored” a plan to overthrow President Muizzu months after he assumed office.
“In Jan, after Muizzu took office, an adviser to Muizzu family said, a R&AW officer at India’s embassy in Washington explored a plan to overthrow the president with two Indian intermediaries who had political and business contacts in Maldives. One intermediary was Shirish Thorat, a former police officer who has worked as a private military contractor and advised Mohamed Nasheed when he was Maldivian president on how to curb Islamist radicalisation. The other was Savio Rodrigues, a Goa-based publisher who earlier served as a spokesperson for governing BJP,” the report alleged.
