Sex scandal hits Maldives

A senior member of President Mohamed Waheed's party and former chief of the Maldives National Broadcasting Corporation has been arrested for allegedly blackmailing a senior judge of the Supreme Court with a sex tape.
Ahmed Faiz, a member of Waheed's Gaumee Ihthihaad Party (GIP) Executive Council and Project Advisor at the Housing Ministry, has been remanded to 15 days of police custody by a court here.
Though the police remained tightlipped, official sources here said the case is about him trying to blackmail a sitting Supreme Court justice with a CD containing images and video of him "having sex with a foreigner abroad".

The arrest comes just months after photos of judge in a hotel room with a woman began circulating on social media.
President's Office spokesperson Masood Imad told PTI that Faiz has been sacked from his project advisor post at the Housing Ministry, to which he was appointed at the deputy minister-level in March 2012.
He maintained that Faiz was sacked on corruption charges.
Sources alleged that a senior Maldivian politician was behind the scandal and "it was part of a well established network to have influence over top officials".
They ruled out the involvement of the Maldivian Democratic Party, led by former President Mohamed Nasheed.