Freed ex-president banned from traveling overseas
Yameen was freed on Tuesday, after the top court overturned his five-year prison sentence
Yameen was freed on Tuesday, after the top court overturned his five-year prison sentence
Former President Abdulla Yameen has been prohibited from traveling out of the Maldives.
Maldives Police Service (MPS) sought an order to ban the recently freed ex-president from traveling out of the Maldives, at the Criminal Court on Tuesday, citing ongoing trials and investigations.
The Criminal Court ruling bans him from traveling overseas, for a period of seven days.
Further details have not been disclosed by the police institution.
Yameen is also being tried for fresh new charges linked to the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (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. He faces four charges in total, over the pending trials.
Yameen had employed Krik Riza to launder USD 1,117,000 in bribes through Sun Construction and Engineering Pvt. Ltd. and Sun Investments Pvt. Ltd. Therefore, the charges seek to procure the laundered amount from Yameen through court.
On November 25, he was charged with money laundering, over the leasing of Aarah island in Vaavu atoll to a foreign party for resort development. Two counts of money laundering charges have been raised against Yameen while Naeem, also a former parliamentarian, faces one charge.
Yameen is charged under Article 53 (a), 5(a) (2) in reference to (3), as well as under Article 53(b), (6) and (7) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Act, for laundering money. The second charge comes under Section 510 of the Penal Code, for accepting bribes.
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, 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.
The former president was freed on Tuesday, after the Supreme Court overturned the five-year prison sentence slapped on him by the lower court after being found guilty of money laundering.
