Police question Yameen over V. Aarah lease after forwarding case for prosecution

Abdulla Yameen, former president of Maldives was questioned by the Maldives Police Service (MPS) on Saturday.

Yameen was summoned to the police headquarters at Shaheed Hussain Adam building on Saturday afternoon, for questioning in regards to the leasing of Aarah island in Vaavu atoll to a foreign party for resort development. He also signed a statement in connection to the case, and was seen exiting the building at around 4:04pm.

The police institution had concluded investigations into the Aarah sale case in late April, and had even forwarded the case for prosecution. However, Yameen was questioned regarding the case on Saturday.

This was revealed by Mohamed Jameel Ahmed, one of the lawyers on the former president’s legal representation team. Confirming that his client was summoned in regards to a case of which investigations had earlier concluded, he said that the case 'has been reopened once more'.

Speaking to the press outside the police HQ, Jameel said that his client was innocent and that the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) case is not linked to him in any way.

Jameel, who was Yameen's runningmate in 2013 and later impeached, indicated that Yameen's innocence's can be proven from parliament who he noted has a list of "true suspects" in the MMPRC case. He noted that this list has been shared with the asset recovery commission as well.

The incarcerated ex-president’s legal team accused the government of politically torturing him through a plot.

He also noted that the team trusts the Supreme Court will give adequate time for both sides to prepare in connection to the case.

The island near V. Thinadhoo, used as a picnic island, was initially awarded to a local company in which former leader of Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Ahmed Thasmeen Ali has a share. The island was sold off to former MP for Felidhoo constituency, Yoosuf Naeem during September 2015. Naeem is believed to have been a close ally of the former president.

He is to have sold the island to a foreign company later, the deal through which Yameen pocketed the USD one million.

Yameen was sentenced to five years in prison on 28 November 2019, after being found guilty of laundering USD one million through state-owned MMPRC via a private company, Scores of Flair, during his presidential tenure. He was also slapped with a fine totaling USD five million, along with the jail sentence, to be settled within six months.

The ex-president was transferred to house arrest in April, in the middle of Ramadan 1442 after receiving the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine and at a time reports were confirmed that officers at the Maafushi Prison tested positive for the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Yameen is deemed high-risk to Covid-19 complications. His transfer came several days after the opposition has been calling for it.

Yameen is also being tried for fresh new charges linked to the MMPRC scandal. As such, he faced charges of bribery and money laundering in connection to the leasing of Fuggiri island in Raa atoll. He was charged in connection to the case during June 2020.