Additional charges sought against ex-Pres Yameen

Additional charges have been sought against incarcerated Former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom.

The Maldives Police Service (MPS) forwarded the fresh charges to the Prosecutor General’s Office on Tuesday, after concluding investigations into the ex-president’s deals regarding the leasing of Aarah island in Vaavu atoll for resort development. He is being charged with money laundering and bribery in connection to the case.

The ex-president is accused of depositing the USD one million made as payments for the island to his personal account.

The island near V. Thinadhoo, used as a picnic island, was initially awarded to a local company in which former leader of Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Ahmed Thasmeen Ali has a share. The island was sold off to former MP For Felidhoo constituency, Yoosuf Naeem during September 2015. Naeem is believed to have been a close ally of the former president.

He is to have sold the island to a foreign company later, the deal through which Yameen pocketed the USD one million.

Yameen was sentenced to five years in prison on 28 November 2019, after being found guilty of laundering USD one million through state-owned MMPRC via a private company, Scores of Flair, during his presidential tenure. He was also slapped with a fine totaling USD five million, along with the jail sentence, to be settled within six months.

The ex-president was transferred to house arrest on Thursday night, for the remainder of the ongoing fasting month of Ramadan 1442. This comes after Yameen recently received the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine, which is reserved for special groups believed to be at greater risk of complications from Covid-19, including patients receiving treatment for cancer and immunocompromised persons, as well as children over the age of 16.

Maldives Correctional Service confirmed that Yameen’s house arrest transfer comes after officers at the Maafushi Prison, where he was serving his sentence, tested positive for the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Yameen is deemed high-risk to Covid-19 complications.

His transfer came several days after the opposition has been calling for it.

Yameen is also being tried for fresh new charges linked to the MMPRC scandal. As such, he faced charges of bribery and money laundering in connection to the leasing of Fuggiri island in Raa atoll. He was charged in connection to the case during June 2020.

If found guilty, the charges linked to the Aarah case will be the sixth criminal charge proven against Yameen.