Former President Abdulla Yameen has been summoned to the Criminal Court for “administrative” purposes, the court has revealed.
While the ex-President and his administration’s Legal Affairs Minister Azima Shakoor were summoned to the Criminal Court on Wednesday night, reports initially had it that hearings in the allegations against them were scheduled for Thursday, separately
Although the hearing was scheduled at 11am, once journalists arrived at the court, they were told that the hearing was regarding administrative work.
RaajjeMV understands that Yameen was summoned to sign documents relevant to the case. However, details regarding said documents have not been revealed.
The first hearing in the case was held on February 18 where the court ordered to keep him remanded for the remainder of the trial over alleged witness tampering. High Court ordered to release him a little over a month later while under house arrest, noting the lack of evidence to prove attempts to influence witnesses.
While money laundering charges were filed against the former president on February 13 regarding the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) embezzlement scandal, investigations into the graft case show that a company implicated had deposited MVR one million to Yameen’s private account at the Maldives Islamic Bank (MIB).
Further, a report publicized by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) reveals that the MIB account was opened just six days before the funds were transferred. While the ACC confirmed the transfer in November 2017, Yameen was asked to deposit the funds to an escrow account at the Bank of Maldives (BML), under an agreement with the corruption watchdog.
Maldives Police Service (MPS) also sought separate charges against Yameen over alleged false testimony to the ACC, after Yameen claimed that the USD one million had been transferred to this escrow account. However, he later admitted that the money handed over to the ACC-held account was not the US$1 million from SOF, but borrowed from then-Tourism Minister Moosa Zameer.
Azima faces charges of being an accessory to money-laundering and providing false information to the authorities, in the case.
