Leading opposition coalition politicians exposed a number of corrupt dealings carried out by the current Maldivian administration while in exile, says former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed.
Nasheed made the comment during a guest lecture at the SOAS University of London last Friday.
Nasheed said that he had the support of the world’s largest democracies and the European Union who advocated for his freedom despite being treated by the Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s administration as a major criminal.
He described the political environment of Maldives the past five years as being full of danger.
“Major corrupt dealings and money laundering schemes have been exposed. The administration has been behind all these crimes. A large number of politicians were jailed, and others forced to live in exile,” said Nasheed.
He said the biggest assistance to politicians living in self-exile to restore democracy to Maldives was lent by Sri Lanka and the UK.
“We met in the UK and gathered evidence on human rights violations and corrupt dealings carried out by President Yameen’s administration. We especially gathered evidence on killings,” said Nasheed.
He said that those advocating for a change in Maldives had formed a coalition which defeated President Yameen at the elections.
“When the time for the election came, all politicians were imprisoned or living in exile abroad,” said Nasheed, who himself has been living in exile.
Nashee has a 13-year prison sentence issued against him for the illegal imprisonment of former Chief Judge at Criminal Court, Abdulla Mohamed.
He obtained permission from the Maldivian administration for medical treatment in the UK, and later obtained political asylum from the UK.
Nasheed is scheduled to travel to neighboring Sri Lanka this Saturday.
He has announced the intention of returning to Maldives on November 1.