AG orders MIRA to seek USD five million fine imposed on Yameen

The Attorney General’s (AG) Office has ordered the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) to seek the USD five million incarcerated former president Abdulla Yameen was ordered to pay to the state.

Yameen was convicted on money laundering charges after having been found guilty for laundering USD one million through the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) via a private company Scores of Flair during his presidency, on November 2019.

He was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay USD five million to MIRA within six months which he failed to pay within the deadline.

As such, the AG Office on Sunday forwarded all the relevant documents in connection to the fine imposed on Yameen to MIRA, which has been ordered to collect the funds from the jailed ex-president in accordance with Article 50 of the Tax Administration Act of the Maldives, which states that “unless specified otherwise in another Act, if a fee, or rent, or royalty, or fine, or any other money required to be paid to the MIRA by any person under any Act is not paid within the period required, MIRA, in collecting such money from such person, shall follow the procedures specified in this chapter as being the procedures to be followed in collecting tax unpaid by a person required to pay tax under a Taxation Act.”

According to Article 188(a) of the Criminal Procedure Act, a convict slapped with a fine is required to pay up within the given deadline by the court and Article 188(c) states that should the convict fail to pay up within the given time period, relevant authorities are mandated to collect the funds as mandated under the set procedures.

As MIRA is mandated to follow the procedures specified under the chapters in the Tax Administration Act, the AG Office revealed that they have brought the matter to the authority’s attention as well.

The USD one million acquired as an acquisition cost for Vodamulaa island in Gaaf Alif atoll was deposited to Yameen’s private account. In connection to recent cases of money-laundering allegations against the former, the state is currently working to retrieve an additional MVR 591 million from the former president.

This is in connection to charges of money-laundering and corruption which were filed at the Criminal Court in connection to the leasing of Fuggiri in Raa atoll for resort development.

During July, the AG Office began work to seek the USD five million owed to the state by the incarcerated former president upon his failure to follow the Criminal Court’s conviction and the office revealed that it was working to prepare the required documents to file the case at the Civil Court.