Nasheed met Mahinda to provide him a safe haven in Maldives?

The Maldives Journal has learned that the speaker of the Maldivian Parliament, President Mohamed Nasheed is presently brokering safe passage for beleaguered former Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa, and his family.

Nasheed is currently in Sri Lanka, meeting heads of political parties. Nasheed went to Sri Lanka last week, and volunteered to coordinate international relief efforts for Sri Lanka, despite lacking any experience in that field. In the last few days, Nasheed has held several meetings with high-level political figures and lobbied to grant the Rajapaksa family a safe passage to the Maldives,the Maldives Journal reported.

A senior Maldivian government official reported to TMJ that after he had resigned, Mahinda Rajapaksa had called Nasheed. In this call, Rajapaksa requested Nasheed to make arrangements so that his family can stay in the Maldives until the situation in Sri Lanka calms down.

Mahinda initially had the plan to settle his family in a property of Maldivian tourism tycoon, Champa Muhammad Moosa (Uhchu). Moosa is known to have close ties with the Rajapaksas.

Nasheed had shot down the idea, citing that Moosa was an untrustworthy figure. “Uhchu is not to be trusted,” he said.

As an alternative, Nasheed had proposed that Rajapaksas purchase a private residence in Soneva Fushi, a property owned by India’s Sonu Shivdasani. Sonu is a close associate of Nasheed.

Shivdasani has close ties to India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He is suspected to have bank rolled MDP during the tenure of former President Abdullah Yameen.

The source also reported that Sonu Shivdasani had agreed to sell a private villa to the Rajapaksa family – at a cool US$ 12 million. An additional villa, priced at US$ 3 million, is also included in the deal, and will be used as housing for the family’s staff and security.

TMJ has been able to confirm that the family plans to purchase a six-room villa, measuring 24,000 square feet. It can comfortably house 12 adults and six children. A private pool, gym, sauna, and other facilities are available in the villa as well.

Speaker Nasheed left for Sri Lanka last week. The Prime Minister’s Office reported that Nasheed had generously offered to assist Sri Lanka in securing relief from foreign nations. Wickremesinghe had accepted the offer.

Since then, Nasheed has held several high-level meetings, including one with former Minister of Youth and Sports, Namal Rajapaksa, the son of Mahinda, as well as opposition leader Sajith Premadasa.