V. Aarah case: ex-Pres requests livestreamed hearings, Naeem objects

A hearing in the money laundering trial of Abdulla Yameen, former president of Maldives over the leasing of Aarah island in Vaavu atoll to a foreign party for resort development, was carried out on Thursday.

Into the beginning of the hearing, the ex-president’s legal team sought from the judges’ bench to livestream the hearings.

Mohamed Jameel Ahmed, one of the lawyers on the former president’s legal representation team, cited Article 42 of the Maldives constitution highlighting that “In the determination of one’s civil rights and obligations or of any criminal charge, everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent court or tribunal established by law”. With this being said, he revealed that full transparency and equity is an important aspect of court trials.

Although the state attorney revealed that the state does not have any objections to this, Yoosuf Naeem, who also faces charges in connection to the case, objected.

The state attorney revealed that they had earlier sought for the hearings to be streamed live and added that all trials except for closed-door hearings that take place at the Supreme Court are also livestreamed.

Naeem’s lawyer requested the court to carry out his part of the trial separately, if the trial is to be livestreamed.

Presiding Judge Ahmed Shakeel revealed that the court will be considering everything noted by both sides and that a decision regarding livestreaming the trial, will be reached and informed to those involved in the case, before January 20.

During the hearing, both suspects stressed that they had trouble accessing some CDs linked to the documents in connection to the case. Naeem’s attorney had even sought additional time to review and gather the documents, as the suspect was only able to appoint legal representation a day before the hearing.

With this, the presiding judge granted until January 20 to gather all the documents and make the required submissions to court.

Another hearing in the case has been slated for January 27, where the suspects are required to enter their plea, followed by one more hearing to take place on February 10.

The trial began on 2 January 2022 and the hearing for Naeem proceeded alongside Yameen’s.

Maldives Police Service (MPS) concluded investigations into the Aarah sale case on 30 April 2021, and had even forwarded the case for prosecution.

The Prosecutor General’s Office forwarded the case to court on 24 November 2021.

PG Office revealed that Yameen is accused of misusing his official authority to launder USD one million in connection to the lease of Aarah, to Naeem for resort development; the latter has also been charged.

Two counts of money laundering charges have been raised against Yameen while Naeem, 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.

Naeem is charged under Section 510 of the Maldives Penal Code, for bribery.

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.

Yameen was questioned by the Maldives Police Service (MPS) in connection to the case, back in July 2021.

This was revealed by Jameel who confirmed 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'.

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 running mate in 2013 and later impeached, indicated that Yameen's innocence 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.

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, SoF, during his presidential tenure. He was also slapped with a fine totaling USD five million, to be settled within six months.

The ex-president was transferred to house arrest in April 2021, 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.

The Supreme Court overturned the five-year prison sentence slapped on the former president, in late November 2021. However, he was prohibited from traveling overseas. Police sought an order to ban the recently freed ex-president from traveling out of the Maldives, at the Criminal Court citing ongoing trials and investigations. The ban expired within seven days of his release.

Yameen is 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 five charges in total, over the pending trials.