Attorney General (AG) Ahmed Usham has lied about Supreme Court Justice Dr. Azmiralda Zahir's allegation that he tried to influence her through a third party over the constitutional hearings on MP disqualifications.
Appearing on the Ahaa (Ask) forum on Monday night, Usham said Azmiralda's allegations were connected to a conversation between him and a friend in February before the constitutional hearings were scheduled.
"It was a conversation I had with a friend. This person was a common friend of me and Azmiralda. After the conversation, this person spoke to [Azmiralda]. That is their allegation," Usham stated.
"This conversation between, me, my friend, that agent they speak of, took place in early February this year. Hearings and the case was not scheduled at the Supreme Court at the time."
Despite Usham's statement:
- The constitutional case was submitted to the Supreme Court on November 24, 2024.
- The Supreme Court accepted the constitutional case on November 27, 2024.
- The Supreme Court, on January 30, 2025, scheduled the constitutional case to begin on February 17, 2025.
This means Usham lied during the Ahaa forum by claiming that the constitutional case was not scheduled when he had the conversation with his friend in early February.
Azmiralda revealed that someone tried to influence her through a third party in connection with the constitutional case when she was summoned to a closed-door disciplinary hearing on March 11 by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).
Her lawyer Ibrahim Shameel told Adhadhu on that day that a government official had phoned the judge through someone else to influence the constitutional case.
“The justice explained in detail that various parties involved in the case tried to influence her before the hearing in the Supreme Court,” the lawyer said.
However, Shameel did not disclose who had phoned Azmiralda to exert influence.
"The message was passed by a government official through another person. That Azmiralda has a pending disciplinary complaint from when [former MP] Hisaan was on the JSC. The [justice] said a senior government official had passed the message directly related over this," Shameel added.
While Usham is accused of trying to influence Azmiralda through a third person, the AG Office, representing the state, argued that the Supreme Court could not hear the constitutional case on MP disqualification.
However, on February 18, the Supreme Court ruled that, contrary to the AG Office's argument , the constitutional amendment case could be heard by the court. The Supreme Court on that day ordered the state to respond within 10 days.
After the state responded, the hearing was scheduled for February 26 at 11:00 am. The petitioner, former MP Ali Hussain, had asked the court to order that proceedings related to MP disqualification cannot be held before the top court rules on the case.
Justices Azmiralda and Mahaz Ali Zahir and former Justice Husnu Suood were suspended shortly before the hearing was due to start.
On the day of their suspension, the parliament also passed an unconstitutional bill to remove two Supreme Court judges. The bill was passed to reduce the number of judges on the top court bench from seven to five.
