The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has alleged the Maldives Police Service of being politically influenced and called for the resignation of Commissioner of Police Ali Shujau.
The police have initiated an investigation after accusing the opposition of attempting a coup in connection with the Bank of Maldives (BML) decision to block dollar transactions from Rufiyaa accounts on Sunday.
Police issued a statement announcing the investigation as the ruling People's National Congress (PNC) held a gathering in Male' on Monday night to publicly label the events of Sunday as a "financial coup".
Speaking at a press conference at the MDP office on Tuesday afternoon, the party's Chairperson Fayyaz Ismail said yesterday was a shameful day for the Maldives Police Service.
"Over the last five years, a lot of work was done to make the police institution an independent professional agency. Yesterday we saw the police acting without any regard to these and on the orders of the President," he stated.
"I take this opportunity to call on the Police Commissioner to resign. He must resign to maintain the dignity of the police."
At Monday night's rally of the ruling party, Fisheries Minister Ahmed Shiyam, who was the first to speak, said the BML decision was a financial coup. At around 8:53 pm, Shiyam said the opposition had attempted a financial coup.
Less than 10 minutes after he made the accusation and while he was still speaking at the podium, police issued the statement regarding the initiation of the investigation at 9:04 pm.
