High Court rules against releasing former pres. on bail

The Maldives High Court has ruled against granting bail to jailed former president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom.

The former president’s legal team made requests at the High Court to issue an order delaying his five-year prison sentence and to make bail arrangements for him, at a time an appeal had been made at the High Court on the five-year prison sentence slapped on him during November. Nevertheless, the High Court denied both requests.

While the first hearing in the former's appeal case was held on January 28th, the court reached a decision on Yameen's bail during the appeal process at Thursday's hearing. Both Yameen’s legal team and the Prosecutor General’s Office representatives were given chances to speak during the previous hearing.

All three judges presiding over the trial unanimously agreed against granting the former president bail. However, the former's request to issue an order delaying his five-year prison term was denied with two out of the three judges on the bench ruling against the order.

The presiding judge over Yameen’s appeal trial is Judge Hussain Mazeed. The other two judges presiding over the case are Judge Hussain Shaheed and Judge Mohamed Niyaz.

The hearing concluded with Judge Mazeed adjourning the hearing due to time constraints and stating that the next hearing in the trial will be held sometime in February.

The former president was convicted on money-laundering charges on 28th November 2019, for misappropriating US dollars through the state-owned Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) via a private company Scores of Flair, during his presidency.

He was slapped with a five-year prison sentence and fined USD five million, which is to be paid within six months.