Yameen's money-laundering trial to be broadcast live
This will be the first time a a trial is televised in the Maldives
Former President Abdulla Yameen
Former President Abdulla Yameen’s money-laundering will be televised live on TV.
Spokesperson at the Department of Judicial Administration (DJA), Faisal Adam confirmed this to RaajjeMV.
Faisal said they are doing the necessary work to broadcast the trial live.
However, he said that only the Public Service Media (PSM) will be allowed inside with the equipment “due to lack of space in the courtroom,” adding that the state broadcaster will share the feed with other stations.
A hearing in the former president’s case is scheduled for 11:30 am on Sunday.
Yameen is implicated in the biggest corruption scandal in the country’s history, after being accused of laundering USD one million through state-owned Maldives Marketing and Public Relations (MMPRC).
He was charged over the matter in February this year, and the Criminal Court had ordered to keep him in remand until the end of trial due to fear of witness tampering.
Following an appeal by Yameen’s legal team, High Court overruled the lower court order after a sudden change to its presiding bench.
According to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), over MVR 1.4 billion was laundered through MMPRC and a private company, SoF.
The former president is to have received the USD one million through SoF.
ACC confirmed the transfer in November 2017, and Yameen was asked to deposit the funds to an escrow account at the Bank of Maldives (BML), under an agreement with the corruption watchdog.
Yameen initially claimed that the USD one million had been transferred to this escrow account, but later admitted that the money handed over to the ACC-held account was not the USD one million from SOF, but borrowed from then-Tourism Minister Moosa Zameer.
While the last hearing in the case was held in April, and administrative meeting was held last week.
The state has submitted a number of witnesses against the former president; his former deputy Ahmed Adeeb, ACC’s former president Hussain Luthufee and current President Muavviz Rasheed, Zameer, and Bank of Maldives’ board member Mohamed Luwaiz and Mohamed Shareef.
