Ex-ACC pres. decides not to testify in Yameen's money laundering trial

Former President of the Anti-Corruption Commission, Hassan Luthufee has decided against testifying in former President Abdulla Yameen’s money laundering trial.

While Luthufee is one of the eight witnesses submitted by the state, a hearing in the case is scheduled for 9:30am on Thursday; the Criminal Court began taking witness testimonies at the last hearing on August 4.

In a message posted to his private Facebook account, Luthuee said that the current environment in the country does not allow him to provide a genuine testimony.

Further noting threats to his life, Luthufee said that he will not be taking the witness’ stand at Yameen’s trial.

He also claimed that influential people in the government “are working to force [him] to give a false testimony,” adding that he does not want to provide a false statement at court “regardless of the pressure.”

While the current president of ACC, Muavviz Rasheed is the only one to have testified in the case thus far, he had said that Yameen had met with him and Luthufee regarding the funds transferred to the former president’s account through SoF.

However, Luthufee denied that the meeting took place, and added that he had not met Yameen at all.

He also denied the former president’s claim that the ACC president had phoned him regarding the matter.

Noting that he had not discussed the matter with anyone even via phone, Luthufee said that this is because it was not clear whether the funds belonged to the state or not “at that point.”

Luthufee resigned as ACC president on June 26, shortly after the parliament’s committee on independent institutions passed to remove him.

Prior to the resignation, Luthufee had been accepting full salary despite being absent from work since February. He is currently in Malaysia.