Parliament today countered the questions raised by former President Mohamed Nasheed over the legitimacy of his resignation letter on February 7 citing that the letter had not carried an official number of the President's Office.
Secretary General of the Parliament Ahmed Mohamed said today that no letter sent by Nasheed to the Parliament during his tenure as President had ever contained a number.
The Commission of National Inquiry (CNI) set up to probe the circumstances surrounding the transfer of power in its report said that Nasheed in his statement to the Commission had stressed that his resignation letter was not official as if so it would have carried a number.
“…..So, I would maintain, there was no resignation made in that letter. The only reason why it becomes a letter is simply because, there is an emblem but this is the President’s Note Pad’s… It has to have a number, it has to be a proper letter “Official Kanthah thah”. This [is] official business. There is a law on official business and this says how, letters are supposed to be dealt,” Nasheed in his statement to CNI said.
The other issue Nasheed raised with his letter was that all letters sent from the President’s Office have to go through electronic mail.
However, Ahmed Mohamed refuted Nasheed’s statement by stressing that no letter sent by Nasheed as President to the Parliament had been received via electronic mail.
Nasheed had told the CNI that he had not resigned as President as the resignation letter did not contain a number and was not delivered to the Parliament by the official dispatch.
“It [the resignation letter] didn’t go to the Speaker… I didn’t give them a letter. The President’s office didn’t give them the letter... I had no intention of sending this letter...According to the Constitution, Shahid [the Speaker] would have received my letter. But as soon as Hissan had [the] letter and she left it somewhere these three gentlemen [Riyaz, Fayaz and Nazim] went and grab[bed] the letter. They took the letter with them, and now I knew that they took the letter to Shahid’s [the Speaker’s] home. And there is no receipt. So I didn’t send a letter. I was trying to get out of the resignation, I have never resigned. I was trying to get out of the situation… There is no receipt of the letter. Please find if there is? So, I would maintain, there was no resignation made in that letter,” CNI report referring to Nasheed’s statement.
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