Yameen’s trial: ACC President takes witness stand

A second hearing in former President Abdulla Yameen’s money laundering trial was broadcasted live on Sunday, where the court heard one of the state’s witnesses.

The current President of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Muavviz Rasheed took the witness’ stand at the hearing.

Muavviz was the commission vice president from September 2009 until his appointment as president in July 2019. His appointment came after the resignation of Abdulla Luthufee, after a five-month absence from duties; Muavviz was the acting president at the time.

When asked when they noticed signs of possible money laundering, Muavviz responded that it was confirmed in 2016, after investigations on how a private company -SoF- obtained state funds.

As such, he said that USD one million was transferred to the former president in two transactions in October 2015, adding that this was confirmed in 2016.

Further noting that ACC had worked to obtain an account statement from Maldives Islamic Bank (MIB), Muavviz said that the bank had refused to provide the statements at first. He said that the commission had sent two letters requesting this, and that they first received a copy of the account statement “via the President’s Office.” MIB is to have cooperated later.

Furthermore, despite Yameen’s claim that his MIB account already had millions prior to the SoF transfer, Muavviz testified that the only funds in the account prior to the transfer was the USD 250 used to open the account six days before.

He also said that the commission was unable to question the former president on the issue until 2017, adding that their investigation was broadened after they were finally able to do so.

However, he added that Yameen was not questioned as a suspect but rather “for clarification.”

Muavviz said that the former president had informed the commission that the funds were obtained “through various political activities” and that his then deputy Ahmed Adeeb was the one that gave him the money.

The ACC president said that Yameen was informed that the funds were obtained “illegally”.

While ACC and the former president had signed an escrow agreement- this agreement is to have expired in March this year- on the latter’s initiative, Muavviz noted that this agreement highlights that the funds to be transferred to this account should be the USD one million sent to Yameen’s MIB account through SoF.

Muavviz also admitted to not having verified if the funds transferred to this escrow account was indeed from Yameen’s account, adding that they were made aware of this through Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA)’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).

FIU is to have informed ACC that the USD one million transferred to the escrow account came from then Tourism Minister Moosa Zameer’s account, in December 2018. Zameer is to have obtained the funds from a man named Mohamed Waseem Ismail.

During the cross-examination, the defence questioned the ACC president on whether the commission has decided whether the USD one million belonged to the state. Muavviz responded that the commission believes that the funds belong to the state, following the investigation into the suspicious transactions.

While the defence also questioned on why the former president’s fingerprint is missing from his statement, Muavviz emphasized that he had denied doing so.

The defendant also imposed a few questions to the witness at the hearing, including on details of where they met at the President’s Office and whether there was a possibility that the funds transferred to his bank account has no connection to SoF.

Muavviz responded that they had met at a separate room at the President’s Office, on the third or second floor, and that ACC’s then-President Hassan Luthufee attended this meeting as well; during the cross-examination Muavviz had said that they were not allowed to take any equipment to even do an audio recording during questioning.

Muavviz further said that the defendant was told “not to touch the funds” in February 2018.

Investigation shows that the funds belong to the state. This decision was reached after investigating the transactions.

Judge Ahmed Hailam concluded Sunday’s hearing after asking the witness a number of questions, including why the commission did not decide to freeze the account following the suspicious transactions. Muavviz said that the commission had deliberated, but that the commission had failed to reach a decision on the matter.

The hearing concluded without announcing a date for the next hearing.

Yameen is accused of laundering USD one million through the state-owned Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC), through SoF.