Media can reveal information on AG reports only once- Lawyer Waheed

Mohamed Waheed, Lawyer of the former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has said that the media can only reveal any information based on the reports of the Auditor General (AG) only once.

In yesterday’s hearing of the trial Gayoom’s case against Maidhu Daily’s Managing Editor, Abdul Latheef, for publishing a news article based on a report by New York Times report on the corruption activities of the previous regime as was mentioned in the reports of Maldivian Auditor General, Gayoom’s lawyer Waheed earlier said that the media cannot ever use the information revealed on the reports of AG unless the reports are ruled as authentic and reliable in a court of law.

Despite Waheed’s earlier claim, yesterday he said that the media can use the information revealed on the reports of AG once in a lifetime but not more than that. He alleged that Miadhu Editor published the article after a long period of delay since the release of AG reports to hinder the people from supporting Gayoom. He claimed that Gayoom has 99.99 percent of support from the people.

In yesterday’s hearing, the Judge asked Gayoom’s lawyer to explain his statement “the media can use the information only once.”

Rebutting the claims of Waheed, Miadhu Daily Managing Editor Abdul Latheef said that the article was published on Miadhu Daily with no intention on hampering the support of Gayoom but only to present the news of the hopes of getting back the money of the people which was originally published on the world famous New York Times.

In yesterday’s hearing Abdul Latheef explained to the judge how the report was published in Miadhu Daily and said that the article’s intention was not to discredit former president. The article was based on reports by the Auditor-General of the Maldives and noted that original NY Times article was reported in local media by other media companies as well.

Meanwhile, the Secretariat of the Former President’s Office said that the legal team of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom is now researching to take potential legal action against the Chief National Correspondent of CNN-IBN, Sumon K. Chakrabarti for writing a report on the Indian weekly magazine The Week alleging that Gayoom and his half brother, PA Leader Abdullah Yameen have been involved in an international money laundering racket worth of $800.million