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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 13 February 2018

Maldives:
Ex-leader, judges wanted

to overthrow government

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Two arrested Supreme
Court justices and a former president had been plot-
ting to overthrow the government of the Maldives,
officials in the Indian Ocean nation said, announc-
ing they had found more than $200,000 in suspicious
money in searches since a state of emergency was
declared last week in the high-end tourist haven.
Lawyers and opposition leaders quickly rejected the
accusations, saying President Yameen Abdul Gay-
oom was using the state of emergency to weaken his
political opponents.
“A proper investigation would not hide under cover
of the State of Emergency, or shy away from the clear
light of rule of law” Maumoon Hameed, the lawyer South African Deputy President and ANC party President Cyril Ramaphosa speaks in Cape Town,
for former dictator Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, wrote South Africa, Sunday, Feb. 11, 2018.
on Twitter. Gayoom, now an opposition leader, was (AP Photo)
among a group of prominent Maldivians arrested last South Africa:
week. Hamid Abdul Gaffoor, a spokesman for the op-
position Maldivian Democratic Party, dismissed the ANC deliberates on President Zuma’s fate
accusations. “All you can say is that it’s a big joke,” he
said. A Sunday statement from the president’s office By CHRIS TORCHIA noon and stretched into by a series of scandals, al-
said Gayoom had bribed government officials and Associated Press the night, more than seven though he denies wrong-
judges and encouraged riots. It also said he and the JOHANNESBURG (AP) — hours later. There was no doing. South Africa’s top
two arrested justices were “attempting to overthrow South Africans on Mon- word on why the discus- court ruled that he violated
the government.” day awaited an end to a sions were taking so long. the constitution following
During the searches, “large amounts of cash have period of political limbo Opposition leaders have an investigation of multi-
been discovered ... hidden under a mattress” in the in which President Jacob denounced unconfirmed million-dollar upgrades to
home of a court official, according to a Sunday police Zuma has remained in of- reports that Zuma previ- his private home that were
statement. Authorities also found a bag with $215,000 fice despite calls for him to ously asked for concessions paid by the state; a judi-
in U.S. currency and about $10,000 worth of Maldivian resign because of corrup- in exchange for his resigna- cial commission is about
currency belonging to one of the arrested justices, the tion allegations. tion, saying he should be to start a probe of alleged
statement said. A total of eight people have been ar- The uncertainty over the tried if corruption charges looting of state enterprises
rested, officials said. Yameen has rolled back many fate of the leader of one are brought against him by Zuma’s associates; and
of the democratic gains the Maldives had made in of Africa’s biggest econo- and go to jail if found guilty. prosecutors are expected
recent years. His government had jailed many opposi- mies, who appears po- Zuma’s public profile is di- to announce soon wheth-
tion leaders and curbed freedom of speech and as- litically damaged beyond minished — he did not er they will reinstate cor-
sembly, with heavy fines imposed on journalists and repair, stirred speculation deliver the state of the na- ruption charges tied to an
social media users found guilty of defamation. that Deputy President Cyril tion address last week and arms deal two decades
Exiled former President Mohammed Nasheed, now Ya- Ramaphosa, Zuma’s ex- canceled a scheduled ap- ago.
meen’s main political rival, wrote on Twitter last week pected successor, had pearance in Cape Town The national executive
that “under the guise of an emergency,” Yameen has been negotiating a deal on Saturday. On Monday, committee of the ruling
gone after groups from the opposition to the media. with the president in ex- though, the South African African National Congress
Political chaos has shaken the government since ear- change for his resignation. foreign ministry relayed his could call for the presi-
ly February, when the Supreme Court ordered that Ramaphosa has said that condolences on behalf dent’s resignation in the
a group of imprisoned opposition leaders, including a key committee of South of the government and same way that it forced
Nasheed, be freed. The government quickly pushed Africa’s ruling ANC party the South African people the resignation of President
back against that order, eventually declaring a state planned to finalize “a tran- to Russia after an airliner Thabo Mbeki a decade
of emergency and arresting the two Supreme Court sition to a new administra- crashed there, killing all 71 ago, setting the stage for
justices and other politicians.q tion” at a meeting that people on board. Zuma’s ascent to the presi-
began on Monday after- Zuma has been discredited dency in 2009.q