London: A British minister agreed a deal to be paid GBP 7,500 a day to advise the leader of an alleged coup in the Maldives accused of torture, leaked documents have revealed.
Ex-Attorney-General Baroness Scotland was under fire after details emerged of her contract with the new government of Maldives.
The documents suggested that she was paid GBP 75,000 for two weeks’ work advising the regime on avoiding further action by the Commonwealth, which has raised serious concerns about a string of human rights abuses, The Daily Mail reports.
Maldives’ first freely-elected president Mohamed ‘Anni’ Nasheed was ousted by his deputy, Mohammed Waheed Hassan, in February.
Nasheed had spent six years as a political prisoner before his election in 2008 and his first act as president was to demolish the country’s torture centre.
Hassan insists that Nasheed ‘resigned’, but the manner of his removal was widely condemned, with many observers branding it a coup.
According to the paper, many UK lawmakers expressed outrage as it emerged that the former British attorney-general was advising a regime responsible for ousting a democratically-elected president.
One Conservative MP even called her behaviour ‘disgusting’.
ANI
First Published: Saturday, August 04, 2012, 14:53