Nasheed office’s allowance withheld

Minister of Finance and Treasury Abdulla Jihad has said that the office allowances payable to former President Mohamed Nasheed have been withheld for the past three months.

Sun Online have reported Jihad as saying that the issue was related to the unknown location of Nasheed’s office.

“We have not received any response to our letters to clarify this. The allowance will resume once they inform us the office location,” he said.

However, when questioned by local paper Haveeru Jihad said that the suspension of privileges was related to a disagreement over whether former president’s were required to conduct charitable activities.

“In reality, the office should be involved in holding social activities. However, the concern of these members is that there is no social work to be seen by the (Nasheed’s) office. It has to be clarified. Hence the financial allowances have been halted for the time being. We still haven’t been provided with the information we sought in relation to the office,” Jihad told the paper.

The paper reported that the current law on the matter states that up to MVR175,000 per month in office expenses can be provided to former heads of state conducting charitable work.

Jihad said that a former Presidents’ Immunity and Privileges Act is currently being drafted and that Nasheed will be allowed the privileges outlined in the eventual legislation.