Foreign Minister Abdulla Khaleel has insisted that President Mohamed Muizzu met with a real Saudi prince despite the removal of content about the meeting from the President's Office website.
Fahad Saud Al Shalan came to the Maldives to attend the inauguration and groundbreaking ceremony of the Maldives International Financial Centre (MIFC) commissioned by a Qatari company.
At the time, news websites highlighted that Al Shalan is not a Saudi prince.
Khaleel attended a questioning session at the People's Majlis on Wednesday and insisted that Al Shalan belongs to the Saudi royal family.
"Fahad al-Saud is the son of a princess of the royal family. He came to the Maldives on a business trip to do some personal work," Khaleel said in response to a question from Galolhu South MP Meekail Naseem.
Khaleel said he visited the Maldives for the work of the Maldives International Financial Center (MIFC) along with others involved in the project.
A senior official with knowledge of the matter said that the Saudi government was very upset about the government's claim that Al Shalan is a Saudi prince. The Saudi government also protested because the error had not been corrected and because the Maldives' government had not apologised.
"The Saudi government officially instructed to take down everything related to it, including news and photos," the official spoke on condition of anonymity.
The content in the President's Office website used the title "His Royal Highness" to refer to Al Shalan. The title is used for the sons, daughters, and male-line grandsons of the reigning monarch, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
"Has it affected the foreign relations between Saudi Arabia and Maldives? No. Our relations with Saudi Arabia's are going very strong," Khaleel told the parliament during Wednesday's session.
Meekail questioned whether Khaleel believed the government had acted wrongly. However, he did not respond to the question.
The news of the fake Saudi prince's planned visit to the Maldives was kept secret by the Maldives' government. Communications about the arrival of the fake prince were conducted through secret letters. Reports say two cabinet ministers were involved in bringing the fake prince to the country.
The reference number for the article on the President's Office website about Muizzu's meeting with the fake prince is Ref:2025-405. However, the President's Office website no longer shows an article with that reference number.
The story about the meeting with the fake prince had the article number 33647. The articles numbered 33646 and 33648 are still accessible on the website. This proves that article 33647 was deleted. The reference number for article 33646 is Ref:2025-404 while the reference number for article 33648 is Ref:2025-406.
