The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has decided to appeal the Civil Court’s decision to nullify the dismissal of five senior police officers. The AGO stated that the verdict will be appealed at the High Court as it had misinterpreted the Police Service Act.
In 2021, the Police Board dismissed Superintendent Mohamed Daood, Assistant Commissioner Mohamed Jamsheed, Assistant Commissioner Ahmed Mohamed, Superintendent Ismail Shameem, Chief Superintendent Abdulla Shareef, Assistant Commissioner Farhood Fikri, and Chief Superintendent Ahmed Shuhaad.
Cases regarding five of the seven dismissed officers were submitted to the Civil Court. As such, cases regarding the dismissal of Chief Superintendent Ahmed Shuhaad and Assistant Commissioner Farhood Fikri were not submitted to court. Chief Superintendent Abdulla Shareef and Superintendent Mohamed Daood are still working at the Maldives Police Service (MPS), as the Civil Court has temporarily halted their dismissal.
The submitted court case states that the five officers were dismissed in violation of the regulations, as the Police Board had not given them the opportunity to respond and does not have the authority to dismiss senior officers. According to the regulations, a senior police officer can only be dismissed on the recommendation of the Police Board after the relevant evidence is collected and reviewed.
The Civil Court ruled that the Police Board did not have the authority to dismiss the officers. The court also rejected the two reports submitted by the state by stating that the report did not consist of any meaningful information on the board’s decision to dismiss the officers.