High Court has postponed delivering the verdict in former President Abdulla Yameen’s appeal of his five-year prison sentence.

While the ruling was initially scheduled for January 14, the Court said that it has been postponed to the 21st of January.

However, it did not disclose a reason for the delay.

The former president was sentenced to five years in prison back in November 2019, after being found guilty of laundering USD one million through the state-owned Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) via a private company called SoF, during his presidency. He was found guilty of depositing the USD one million laundered through the state to a general investment account at Maldives Islamic Bank (MIB) and using it for his personal gain for 36 months.

While Yameen was instructed to transfer the funds to an escrow account set up by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) during investigation, it was later revealed that the funds transferred to the account had been obtained through an additional party and were not the funds in Yameen’s account.

Yameen’s team appealed his conviction and subsequent sentencing the same month as his sentencing. While the former president's team had earlier made requests at the High Court to issue an order delaying his five-year prison sentence and to make bail arrangements for him, it denied both requests.

Further, fresh new charges were raised against the former president last year, in relation to the leasing of Fuggiri island in Raa atoll for resort development, also through MMPRC; the MMPRC scandal has been described as the largest corruption case recorded in Maldivian history.

According to the new 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.

Yameen, younger brother of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, won the 2013 presidential elections and assumed office in November that year. The Yameen administration faced multiple allegations, including corruption and gross human rights violations during its five-year tenure, which ended in November 2018.