State asks Supreme Court to freeze former president's bank accounts

A hearing in the state’s appeal case regarding High Court’s decision to unfreeze former President Abdulla Yameen’s bank accounts, was held on Thursday.

The former president’s accounts were frozen in December last year, as police investigated the money-laundering allegations against him. However, the High Court nullified the freeze order on March 31, and the state had appealed it at the Supreme Court earlier this month.

At the preliminary hearing on Thursday, the state requested to nullify the High Court’s order, detailing the reasons why his accounts have to be frozen, including possible loss of state funds.

The state asked to freeze eight accounts under Yameen’s name at the Maldives Islamic Bank, as well as those at the Mauritius Commercial Bank and the Bank of Maldives.

Also at the hearing, Yameen’s defence attorney highlighted that the appeal was made “after the given deadline.”

Further noting that the funds are being monitored by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the defence said that there is no reason for it to go missing and asked the Supreme Court to uphold the lower court verdict.

The five justices presiding over this case are; chief justice Dr. Ahmed Abdulla Didi and justices Abdulla Areef, Adam Mohamed Abdulla, Abdulla Didi and Abdul Ghani Mohamed.

After Thursday’s hearing, the chief justice announced that a verdict will be issued at the next hearing.

The former president is accused of having a hand in the biggest case of graft recorded in the country’s history, involving the state-run Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC). Millions of dollars are to have been embezzled through the company, through Yameen’s five-year tenure.