The Prosecutor General's (PG) office has revealed that the criminal court has yet to respond to their request to seize the funds in former President Yameen Abdul Gayoom's bank account.

While media reports have spread claiming that the criminal court has accepted the warrant request to seize the funds in former President Yameen's bank account, an official of the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) told RaajjeMV that "the criminal court has not informed the PGO whether they have accepted or rejected the seizure warrant for former President Yameen's bank account."

No comments from the criminal court are available yet.

The PG office announced, via twitter on December 26th, that a request has been sent to the criminal court for a warrant to seize the funds in the former president's bank account under article 192 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Act No. 12/2016) and article 62 of the Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism Act (10/2014).

Former President Yameen was convicted for laundering USD one million through the state-owned Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC), via a private company SoF, during his presidency, on November 28th.

Former President Yameen was convicted of money-laundering charges on November 28th. He was sentenced to five years in prison and fined USD five million. His sentence also states that the fine must be paid within six months to the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA).

According to the verdict issued by the Criminal Court, the charges against Yameen were confirmed based on the evidence presented against him by the prosecution and witness statements. All five presiding judges over the trial unanimously agreed on the guilty verdict.

The presiding judges also highlighted that a political party should deposit their campaign money to the party account. This was used as a defence 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.

All five presiding judges concurred that all legal elements for this act to be a crime was met.