Former President Abdulla Yameen did not take part in the closing ceremony of the People’s National Congress (PNC)’s first-ever national congress.

While the ceremony was held on Saturday night, PNC said that its founder was unable to attend “due to current circumstances.”

However, the party had previously stated that Yameen will be in attendance, despite the circumstances, with some of its senior officials even making it public via social media.

Speaking regarding his absence, one of PNC’s four vice presidents, Mohamed Hussain Shareef said that Yameen was “unable to take part in the ceremony because of current circumstances.”

Shareef noted that the former president did not feel like it was the best time to take part in such an event, “given the charge raised against him and the court trial.” He added that the party “believes the same.”

Further noting that the former president was watching the ceremony live on TV, Shareef said that their aim is to hold a lively event together with its partner, Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) at the earliest, where he will be in attendance “after he is cleared of all this.”

Former President Yameen was charged with money laundering in February, and the preliminary hearing in the case was held last week. The state had submitted eight witnesses against the former president.  In a hearing held in February, Criminal Court had ordered to keep him in remand for the remainder of the trial over allegations of witness tampering, however, the High Court overturned the order in March.