Court hears testimonies against Yameen at Tuesday’s hearing

The Criminal Court has heard testimonies against former President Abdulla Yameen at Tuesday’s hearing on his money laundering trial.

The state presented Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) head Muavviz Rasheed, former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb, former ACC head Hassan Luthufee, MMPRC’s former managing director Abdulla Ziyath, Mohamed Waseem, former tourism minister Moosa Zameer, as well as board members of Bank of Maldives Mohamed Luwaiz and Mohamed Shareef as witnesses.

Muavviz and Adeeb’s testimonies were heard in the previous hearing while the court heard the testimonies of Waseem, Zameer, Luwaiz, and BML deputy CEO Mohamed Shareef at Tuesday’s hearing. Luthufee, who is currently in Malaysia, has sent a letter to the court, in which he refused to give testimony, citing threats to his life.

At Tuesday’s hearing, the state’s attorney said that they have tried to get Luthufee’s testimony to no avail and that in a situation where they are unable to get his testimony, they are ready to present his video interview with the police service as light evidence.

Yameen has been accused of violating an agreement with the ACC, after refusing to transfer the laundered money to an escrow account opened by the commission.

Giving his testimony, BML deputy CEO Shareef said that Luthufee via phone call inquired on the process to open the escrow account and that Shareef had discovered ACC’s deal with Yameen later on but that he was not involved.

He also said that the account was opened according to procedure and that the then legal affairs minister at the President’s Office Azima Shakoor had requested a document for the escrow account. He added that BML has a specific department to oversee escrow accounts and that he does not directly oversee it.

Former economic minister and BML board member Luwaiz said that Azima had called him about a financial transaction involving Yameen and that he told then BML CEO Andrew Healy and no one else.

Giving his testimony, former tourism minister Zameer said that he transferred one million US dollars to yameen’s account on his request after selling some property. He said that Azima called her due to the delay in the financial transfer.

At the end of Tuesday’s hearing, Criminal Court chief judge Ahmed Hailam said that he will decide on accepting Luthufee’s video interview in the next hearing, where testimonies of the witnesses presented by the defense will also be heard.