Summary statement hearings conclude in appeal reg. decision to unfreeze Yameen’s accounts

The summary statement hearings in the appeal case against the decision to unfreeze incarcerated former President Abdula Yameen’s bank accounts, have concluded.

The last hearing on summary statements was held on Monday, virtually and the verdict hearing will follow. A date for the verdict hearing was not specified.

The presiding judges of the Supreme Court had posed the state attorneys with a number of questions during Monday’s hearing.

As such, Husnu Al Suood, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court had stressed that the state attorney’s statements do not “add up” and that while the state attorneys claim that laundered money was deposited to eight accounts of the former president, the lawyer claims that only one account was frozen after the Criminal Court’s order to freeze eight accounts was overturned by the High Court.

State attorneys responded by stating that the Criminal Court ordered to freeze Yameen’s Islamic Bank account after a case regarding funds in the account was proven against the former president. The state attorneys appealed to overturn the High Court’s decision at the Supreme Court as they believe undue amounts were deposited to Yameen’s bank accounts during his time as president and owing to the fact that some investigations are still underway.

As Yameen is accused of laundering the money through the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) and because the state will face hindrances in recovering the laundered money, state attorneys appealed to overturn the High Court’s decision to overturn the conviction.

Under a Criminal Court order, Yameen’s bank accounts were frozen on December 13, 2018 and the High Court overturned the order on March 31 the next year. In May 2019, the case was appealed at the Supreme Court by the state.

The Supreme Court issued a temporary order to freeze the former’s bank accounts until a verdict is reached in the case, after accepting the case.

Police sought to freeze Yameen’s bank accounts in connection to the money laundering investigations against Yameen with a purpose to prevent him from carrying out further transactions with the funds remaining in his personal account.

After having been found guilty of laundering USD one million through MMPRC via a private company Scores of Flair during his presidency, Yameen was sentenced to five years in prison in November 2019. The USD one million acquired as an acquisition cost for Vodamulaa island in Gaaf Alif atoll was deposited to Yameen’s private account and while he was asked to transfer this to an escrow account opened by ACC, the funds transferred to this account were through a third party and not directly from Yameen’s account.