Minister: Forms filled at DNR were valid, there would be more if we filled fake ones

Homeland Security Minister Ali Ihusan insisted at the Parliament on Tuesday that the membership forms of the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) that government officials were pictured filling out at the Department of National Registration (DNR) were all valid, adding that they would have filled more if they were filling out fake forms.

The no-confidence motion against Ihusan was submitted last month with the endorsement of the 12 lawmakers who represent the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) at the Parliament. The party has accused Ihusan of repeatedly flouting the country’s law. The main basis of the party’s motion is the allegation of the misuse of the privileged information of citizens in the DNR database and other state resources to create fake forms to drive up PNC’s membership.

The PNC has been accused of creating thousands of fake forms to inflate its membership – something that is the subject of investigations by both the police and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

Amid the investigations, photos and videos emerged showing Ihusan observing as senior officials at the Homeland Security Ministry filled at PNC membership forms inside a meeting room at the DNR.

Ihusan attended the parliamentary sitting on Tuesday morning to present his response to the allegations.

Ihusan does not deny that Homeland Security Ministry officials filled out party forms at the DNR premises, and he also told the Parliament that he and his team filled out 1,700 forms.

He said that the PNC received over 40,000 forms in its membership drive last year, and that he would have filled out much more than 1,700 forms if he had filled out fake forms.

“With over 40,000 forms submitted to the PNC, it wouldn’t be just 1,700 forms I submitted if I had used DNR data to create fake forms. If I had admitted members through this system, I would have admitted 40,000 people,” he said.

“This allegation does not make any sense.”

 According to Ihusan, each cabinet minister was instructed by the PNC leadership to submit “a specific number of” new membership forms. He said that he handed over the task to the political appointees at his ministry, who filled it out in “a meeting room situated on the same floor as the DNR.”

“The witness part is left blank when the forms are brought in. I was later informed that they put the witness fingerprint and signature and other such tasks there [in the meeting room,” he said.

Ihusan said that while he does not believe it to be a crime, he believes that political work shouldn’t be done within the premises of a trusted state institution.

“I therefore instructed against carrying out such work inside any of our offices,” he said.

Ihusan said that Homeland Security Ministry officials do not need to be physically present at the DNR in order to access the database.

He said that there’s no reason why they would need to fill out fake forms there.

Ihusan repeated his assertion that he wasn’t actively involved in filling out the forms, but had gone there because he was invited to have pizza with the officials.

The had PNC admitted to submitting several unverified membership forms to the Elections Commission. But they said it hasn’t been deliberate, and that the party lacks the capacity to verify forms.

In the wake of the fake form scandal, the EC digitalized the political party membership process so that people can only apply for membership via eFaas.