MALE, Maldives: Lawmakers in the Maldives moved on Tuesday to impeach Vice President Ahmed Adeeb over an alleged plot to assassinate his boss in a speedboat bombing last month, officials said.
Parliamentarians submitted a no-trust resolution against Adeeb to the assembly on Tuesday, they confirmed to AFP, three days after he was arrested as he returned to the island following an official visit to China.
A total of 52 lawmakers from President Abdulla Yameen’s ruling party and his allies supported the no-confidence vote against Adeeb, but they need five more votes from the opposition to sack the vice president.
It was not immediately clear when the no-confidence motion -- the method used in the Maldives to remove a president, vice president or ministers accused of wrongdoing from office -- would be taken up for debate and a vote.
Yameen used a national television address Sunday to say Adeeb’s arrest had been carried out "for the safety and security of the nation".
Authorities had recovered bomb-making materials from the homes of his associates in the capital island Male, he said.
Adeeb, through his lawyer, denied involvement in the September 28 explosion to reporters in Male on Monday.
Yameen escaped unhurt from the blast, but his wife and two others were slightly wounded.
Adeeb, 33, was given the job after Yameen impeached his 2013 running mate Mohamed Jameel in July, after accusing him of treason. Jameel was not on the island at the time and remains abroad.