No evidence to back claims Judge Baaree accepted bribes: ACC
Case of accepting bribes
Judge Baaree: ACC concludes no corruption in case against Judge Baaree
Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has cleared former Criminal Court Judge Abdul Baaree Yoosuf of any wrong doings, with regards to the bribery allegations made against him.
The agency cited that there was no evidence to prove that the Judge had accepted bribes. The case was filed by a private citizen.
Commission’s decision said that as per clause 65 of the Judges Act, all Judges must release an annual statement of their financial status to Judicial Services Commission (JSC). Review of the statements and comparison with the bank statements of the Judge for 2010, 2011 and 2012 showed undisclosed amounts.
ACC further said they had compared the statements and the cases the Judge was reviewing at the time, as well as the case records of those being reviewed under the cases. This, the agency said, ruled out the possibilities.
Additionally, ACC said those who had given their testimonies had not been able to link or provide sufficient evidence that the undisclosed sums were elements of corruption,
Therefore, ACC determined there was insufficient evidence to determine that there was no case against the Judge.
Judge Baaree was demoted to Juvenile Court by Judicial Service Commission (JSC) on July 11th. Prior to this, Judge Baaree had thrown out the case against Jumhooree Party Leader and Maamigili Constituency MP Qasim Ibrahim from Court. The same case was filed again after Judge Baaree’s demotion to Juvenile Court with Criminal Court passing a three-year, two month and 12-day sentence on MP Qasim for attempted bribery charges.
