Civil Court on Monday evening finally accepted the payment made by Abdul Aleem, Secretary General of the faction of Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) loyal to President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

When Aleem had first attempted to pay the fine earlier on Monday, it was rejected as he had brought in MVR 3,000 in coins. Court said that it would take an exorbitant amount of time to count all those coins. Later on, he had exchanged the coins to paper currency and paid the fine in full, before the extended deadline of 3pm.

Aleem said that he had to bring in the coins, as it was donations to his fund box.

Aleem was fined by Civil Court by MVR 85,000, having been found guilty of contempt of the Court, after Court ordered all powers of PPM must be handed over to the Party advisor, President Abdulla Yameen. As such, the prosecution said that the split faction had formed a separate Council, Ethics Committee and conducted activities – all which were banned under the Civil Court verdict.