Ex-pres. given more time to prepare for trial on new charges, again

Jailed former President Abdulla Yameen was given additional time on Sunday, to prepare for the two new charges raised against him earlier this year.

While the former president was convicted of money laundering last year and sentenced to five years in prison, an additional money laundering charge was pressed against him in June as well as a bribery charge, in relation to the leasing of Fuggiri island in Raa atoll for resort development.

According to the charges, Yameen is accused of laundering USD 1,117,000 taken as a bribe, allegedly from a man named Ahmed Krik Riza, through Sun Construction and Engineering Private Limited and Sun Investment Private Limited.

The trial on the new charges was to commence back in August, but have been delayed following various issues raised by the defence including state’s failure to provide arrangements for meetings between Yameen and his lawyers as well as not receiving case related documents.

At Sunday’s hearing, the defence claimed to not have received documents “vital” to prepare a response to the allegations against their client, indicating that the state did not provide these documents deliberately.

They said that the prosecution refused to share the documents claiming they were not relevant to the defence, stressing that this is not something that can be determined by the state.

Further stressing that they have 20 hours’ worth of video footage and digital copies of documents with over a thousand pages to analyze, Yameen’s team said that they have not had sufficient time to do so. Further, they mentioned an issue with one of the CDs provided.

Prosecutors responded that all available documents have been provided to the defence, adding that the documents that have not been provided are secret case documents.

Stressing that the defence was informed of why the documents cannot be shared, prosecutors argued that the state was not in possession of some of the documents mentioned by the defence. However, the state noted to have agreed to provide digital copies of case documents.

Presiding Judge Ahmed Shakeel said that documents not provided to court must be seen an irrelevant to the case, but that the defendant has the right to obtain the documents from the relevant institutions as per the country’s Right to Information Act.

The defence noted that an attempt to obtain such a document from a state institution during the former president’s previous money laundering trial was to no avail. Hence, the defence asked the court to issue an order to obtain these documents, as well as an additional 15 days to examine them.

Noting that Yameen is under special protection in prison, the state stressed that he is allowed meetings with lawyers whenever requested.

Arguing that Maldives Correctional Services (MCS) takes their time in responding to their requests for meetings with their client, Yameen’s lawyers also noted challenges with having to travel from one island to another.

The presiding judge stated that the defence will be allowed adequate time to prepare to the charges. While an additional 15 days was given to prepare, Judge Shakeel told the defence to inform him of any issues with meeting with their client during this period.

The next hearing in the case will be in January 2021.