President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has avoided the topic of the deportation of his stepmother Gnei Skeelan, a Sri Lankan citizen, while responding to a journalist's question today.
Briefing reporters after the inauguration ceremony of the government’s 20-year national development plan, President Muizzu talked about the distribution of the inheritance after his father died in 2015.
He also denied all the allegations against him over the treatment of his stepmother.
"I responded to this during the [presidential] campaign. There is no truth in it," he insisted.
President Muizzu said the inheritance was distributed through the court following his father's death. He added that the money in his father's account in Sri Lanka, his father's business, his father's lands in Sri Lanka and the buildings in those lands were given to Skeelan.
"My father had lands abroad, in Sri Lanka. Two lands in Colombo. One land in Kandy. Three lands with buildings on them. Two of them were guesthouses to do business and earn income. One was built to live in," he said.
"So there were three buildings, three lands. I decided to give the three plots with the buildings and the business to my stepmother for free without any compensation. So the three plots and three buildings were given to my stepmother for free along with all the money in my father's account in Sri Lanka."
He added that the court decided that the portion of the inheritance to be claimed by the widow must be given to him.
"So then my stepmother said that she would give up the portion in Male' guaranteed to her by religion because she was a widow. So that's the decision. That's how the inheritance was divided. So that's the truth," he said.
President Muizzu said he had avoided speaking about the matter in detail because it was personal, but had now decided to speak because it was continuing to be a hassle.
The President alleged that various allegations were being made for political reasons to discredit him, but that he did not like to talk about other people.
The President's father, Hussain Abdul Rahman, died in 2015 while in Mecca for the Hajj pilgrimage. Skeelan and Muizzu, who was the Housing Minister at the time, accompanied him on the trip.
The stories about Muizzu's treatment of his stepmother grabbed headlines again after Adhadhu's "Skeelan" documentary won the investigative award at the Maldives Media Council (MMC) Journalism Awards 2023.
MMC has since been facing pressure from various government officials to withdraw the award. Pro-government supporters have also been calling for the award to be withdrawn while the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has also started an investigating.
