Abbas Faiz, the foreign envoy assigned to investigate the assassination attempt of Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed, has said the investigation did not reveal the involvement of any political entity in the attack.
During the press conference held at President's Office, Faiz said it was suspected the political opposition was involved in the attack from the beginning.
However, the investigation concluded that the attack did not have the involvement of any individual or entity within the state or the opposition.
While it was believed that the assassination attempt on Nasheed was made since he was about to publicize the individuals behind the corruption related to Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC), Faiz said this was not the case.
"We learned that the people who organized this attempt had begun preparing for the attack way before Nasheed said he will reveal the people behind the MMPRC corruption," Faiz said.
Faiz said that the findings so far in the investigation all point to the involvement of religious radicals in the attack, and added that they did not discover any involvement of foreign radical groups.
The foreign envoy also expressed concern of the attack's financiers remaining at large, and noted that the investigation showed they had financed the attack on their own.
"They did not spend on anything outside of the cell for the attack, they have purchased the equipment used for the attack through their accounts which we saw from the transaction details, which did not come abroad," Faiz said.
Faiz stressed that the investigation will proceed without interruptions to ensure adequate probe. He also noted the possibility of new findings, which was his argument to proceed with the investigation.
Faiz was not pleased with the speed of the court trial regarding the assassination attempt, and said he could not accept the justification provided by Criminal Court judges about the court building's rundown condition interrupting trials.
He recommended Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to make better arrangements to ensure uninterrupted judiciary operations.