An investigative report by the Washington Post has alleged that the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) colluded with Indian intelligence in an attempt to overthrow the Mohamed Muizzu administration and that the president bribed lawmakers to thwart the plot.
“In an internal document titled “Democratic Renewal Initiative” and obtained by The Washington Post, Maldivian opposition politicians proposed bribing 40 members of parliament, including those from Muizzu’s own party, to vote to impeach him. The document also proposed paying 10 senior army and police officers and three powerful criminal gangs to ensure Muizzu’s removal. To pay off the various parties, the conspirators sought 87 million Maldivian Rufiyaa, or [US]$6 million, and according to two Maldivian officials, it would be sought from India,” The Post reported on Monday, 30 December.
However, according to the reporting by The Post, the plotters, after months of secret talks, failed to gather enough votes to impeach Muizzu, and India did not pursue or finance an attempt to oust him.
The Post detailed that Muizzu, aware of the brewing conspiracy, acted swiftly to counter the opposition’s plans. According to the publication, the president instructed two loyal lawmakers to offer bribes of approximately US$200,000 each to persuade lawmakers to join his party. This bold move, as per three members of Muizzu’s party interviewed by The Post, resulted in 11 defections, depriving the opposition of the votes required for impeachment.
“In more than two dozen interviews, Maldivian and Indian officials, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the subject’s sensitivity, described the lengths to which India has gone to prop up one of the country’s main parties, the Maldivian Democratic Party, after China forged relations with the MDP’s rivals, led by former Maldivian president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom and his protégé, current president Muizzu,” The Post surmised.
According to those interviewed, India had, over a number of years, played a role in choosing MDP’s leaders as well as candidates for elections.
“During the 2023 presidential election, when Muizzu ran a campaign criticizing Indian influence in the country and raising the banner ‘India Out,’ polling analysts and campaign workers arrived from India to support the MDP’s campaign against him, sparking concerns among some Maldivian defense officials,” the report by the American publication explained, citing one specific instance of recent significance where India had allegedly colluded with the MDP and attempted to directly manipulate the Maldives’ democratic process in favour of the regional superpower.
After Muizzu had assumed office, an initiative run by a senior officer at India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), out of India’s embassy in Washington, sought to overthrow President Muizzu by using two Indian intermediaries with political and business ties in the Maldives, The Post reported. The publication named Shirish Thorat, an Indian ex-police officer turned private military contractor who had advised President Mohamed Nasheed during his short-lived presidential term, and Savio Rodrigues, a Goa-based publisher who had previously served as a spokesman for India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Post’s reporting on Rodrigues was backed up by phone surveillance records obtained through sources close to Muizzu’s family, the publication confirmed.
“When contacted by The Post, Thorat and Rodrigues separately confirmed the existence of plans to remove Muizzu but declined to say whether they were working on the Indian government’s behalf,” The Post reported.
Explaining his meetings with a RAW officer, Thorat admitted to sometimes paying social visits to friends working at the embassy, saying that it did not surprised him that he had been surveilled given his work, the publication detailed.
“It is unclear how seriously India considered backing the impeachment scheme, or whether the plan was approved by senior officials in New Delhi,” The Post outlined.
At least one Maldivian politician with regular contact with the Indian High Commission in Malé confirmed that the RAW officer stationed in the Maldives had expressed personal doubts that impeachment was a good idea, the Washington-based publication wrote.
“Other people involved in the effort said Indian officials worried that overthrowing a recently elected president would destabilize the Maldives, an economically fragile and politically unstable nation prone to religious extremism,” the report said.
When approached for comment, India’s Ministry of External Affairs, and the Minister at the President’s Office for Strategic Communications, Ibrahim Khaleel, both declined to comment, The Post said.
Additional reporting by Ibrahim Inaan