Maldives United Opposition has submitted the issue of cash deposits to the Maldives Islamic Account opened under President Abdullah Yameen Abdul Qayyoom's name to the Police for further investigation. The Opposition has alleged that US$ 500000 had been deposited into that account.
The Opposition's Spokesperson Ahmed Mahloof said there were many cases that involved the President that warranted further investigation and that this was one of those cases. He said that he hoped that the Police will carry out the investigation fairly.
Mahloof said that there were protocols instilled by MMA Financial Intelligence Unit regarding the transfer of large amounts of cash from one account to the other and that they had evidence the Unit had information of this transfer. He also alleged that MMA Governor Dr. Azeema Adam was instructed to ignore this transaction.
MMA is yet to release a statement on the issue.
The Opposition said that such a large transfer could involve aspects of money laundering and therefore warranted additional investigation. The Opposition said the case was even more severe as they had evidence that Dr. Azeema had been instructed to ignore the transfer. Mahloof said this clearly showed abuse of power, in the event where she had attempted to follow her mandate as the Governor.
Based on available information, the deposit of US$ 500000 to the account opened under President Yameen's name had been deposited following the explosion aboard the President's speedboat and relations between the President and his then Vice President Ahmed Adeeb had soured. The deposit, made by SOF, was the first deposit ever made to the account. The account is not used by the President.
