The High Court of Maldives has overturned the conviction of former president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom over the V. Aarah case linking him to money laundering and bribery charges, with which the ex-president walked free on Thursday.

Yameen was sentenced to seven years behind bars and slapped with a fine of USD five million over the money laundering charges in connection to the sale of V. Aarah.

He was sentenced to four years after being found guilty of the bribery charges raised in connection with the issue.

The High Court overturned the sentence during a hearing held on Thursday. The verdict was delivered after an extensive halt in the appeal proceedings.

However, the court has overturned the two convictions and ordered a retrial in the case, instead of ordering his full release.

The court has also overturned the verdict proved and issued against Yoosuf Naeem.

Some of the main highlights of Thursday’s hearing includes, the overturning of Yameen’s 11-year jail sentence, the trial court allowed to conduct another trial in the case by allowing pre-trial submissions to be filed, even after the ruling has been overturned, setting aside the “surprise evidence” submitted by the state since the trial commenced, deciding that the lower court concluded that Yameen would know that the money was obtained through crime in the financial statement that said “Adeeb claims the funds are MMPRC money”, was incorrect.

Further, it was also ruled to proceed with the trial by examining the evidence in accordance with the rules laid down by the High Court throughout the trial’s course.