After six-hour interrogation, ex-president Yameen denies any wrong doing

Former President Abdulla Yameen has said on Tuesday that he refrained from transferring the USD 1 million deposited to his account because he was ‘unsure’ of its origins.

Speaking to the press outside his home, following a six-hour interrogation at the police headquarters, Yameen said that there was ‘no way’ to prove that the funds were embezzled from the state.

Yameen said that he deposited the funds to an escrow account at the Bank of Maldives, at the behest of the statutory corruption watchdog, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

The police are investigating the matter, and allegations that Yameen provided false information to the previous ACC investigation into embezzlement through the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC).

Yameen said on Tuesday night that the funds deposited to the escrow account were ‘all done lawfully’ and that he had given his statement to the police accordingly, although Yameen admitted that the funds deposited at the account were not the sum of 1 million deposited to his account at the Maldives Islamic bank.

The former president confessed that he had redeposited the 1 million into an ‘investment’ account, although sitting presidents are barred from doing so. Yameen also said that he did so while having reservations about the origin of the funds.

Yameen further said that the funds deposited to escrow account under directive from the ACC were borrowed from then Tourism Minister Moosa Zameer, and Zameer had been compensated by a local privately-operated company.

He said on Tuesday that he believes that he is not responsible for any wrong doing. Yameen, however, said that he had asked former vice president Ahmed Adeeb, who has been implicated in the MMPRC embezzlement, for money after the explosion aboard the presidential speed boat, which he claims was an attempt on his life.