The Maldives government has rejected claims by a Sri Lankan 'witch doctor' that he helped President Abdulla Yameen win the country's Presidential Election in 2013.

A Sri Lankan 'witch doctor', Asela Wickramasinghe, told The Telegraph newspaper in UK that he sabotaged Mr Yameen's political foes through rituals conducted after burying items such as eggs and coconuts in significant locations around the capital Male, including the main cemetery.

He pointed out that this helped Yameen win the election in 2013, in which he was trailing in the first round of voting.

After the first round of voting in elections in 2013, Yameen was trailing heavily to Mohamed Nasheed, the ousted and later jailed ex-president who is now receiving medical treatment in Britain.

But on the second ballot, Ameen emerged as an implausible victor after the third-place candidate surprisingly threw his weight behind him.

The allegation that the leader of a conservative Islamic regime consulted a foreign sorcerer who draws on Buddhist and Hindu spirituality has only heightened political intrigue in the country, The Telegraph said.

Yameen and his government have not publicly addressed Wickramasinghe's claims, saying they would not dignify them with a comment. But Yameen's half-brother, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the country's long-time former dictator, strongly denied that Wickramasinghe had any role in the 2013 election.

"I didn't see this person you are referring to," he said. "He had no involvement. Those are all lies. You shouldn't believe such talk.

Sorcery doesn't really exist. Nothing will happen from it."

(With inputs from The Telegraph)