Maldives ex-president found guilty of money laundering
The five judge bench unanimously concurred that Yameen is guilty, on Thursday
Former President Abdulla Yameen heads to court on Thursday
Former Maldives' president Abdullah Yameen Abdul Gayyoom has been found guilty of money laundering.
A five-judge bench unanimously concurred that Yameen is guilty on the charge of laundering state funds for personal gain, on Thursday.
After adjourning the court to determine his sentence, the court ruled to sentence him to five years in prison, with a USD five million fine.
Yameen was charged with laundering USD one million through the state-owned Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC), via a private company SoF, during his presidency.
The money laundering charge was pressed, because Yameen violated terms of an agreement made with the anti-corruption watchdog. Under the terms of the agreement Yameen was asked to transfer the said funds to an escrow account.
During the trial Yameen agreed that he did not transfer the funds deposited by SoF. Instead he transferred, money he recieved from Moosa Zameer, a tourism minister during his presidency. He claimed the reason behind this was to keep the funds in the aforementioned case intact. The state argued that this was done for his own financial gain, and in violation of the agreement made with ACC.
The judges’ bench unanimously concurred that all legal elements for this act to be a crime was met. The presiding judges also highlighted that a political party should deposit their campaign money to the party account. This was used as a defense by Yameen saying that the money deposited into his account was campaign money owed to him by former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb. The former VP was a witness in the trial, and had denied giving any orders to transfer the funds to Yameen's account.
Yameen's legal team requested to delay the sentencing after he was found guilty, saying that it would impede on his right to appeal after highlighting that this is the period of the year the courts in Maldives go for recess. The judges bench denied this request saying they found no reason to do as such.
Yameen's legal team, along with the opposition had previously voiced concern saying that the charges were politically motivated and even made a final attempt to change the Criminal Court bench to the Supreme Court. The Supreme court tossed out the request.
The opposition took issue with the fact the interim judge of the Criminal Court, Ali Rasheed was present on the bench. They have accused Ali Rasheed of being in violation of the Judges’ Act after an interview with a local media outlet, namely RaajjeMV. The bench presiding over Yameen's case decided on the matter at the last hearing.
