ISLAMABAD, Jan 5: Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, attending the ongoing 12th Saarc summit here, left for home early Monday, due to some emergency in his country.

Maldivian Foreign Minister Fathulla Jameel will represent him in the concluding session of the summit on Tuesday, sources said. An official in the foreign ministry confirmed that Mr Gayoom had left for home to overcome the political dispute belonging to his person and family.

Maldives witnessed first anti-government riots in the living memory of the country in September sparked by the deaths of three prisoners inside a jail. Dawn learnt that My Gayoom's immediate return is driven by the involvement of his son in some corruption scandal.