Criminal Court on Thursday took the trial of opposition Jumhoory Party (JP) leader Gasim Ibrahim behind closed doors.
The business magnate faces three separate counts of attempted bribery and undue influence of a state official.
The reason behind the decision remains unclear, but the court had earlier banned two lawyers from Gasim's legal team for comments made against the court the day before.
The trial was scheduled hours after the Maamigili lawmaker was freed by the High Court after the appellate court ruled that the business magnate was arrested in violence of due procedure.
One of Gasim's lawyers who was banned, Hisaan Hussain had said the criminal court is "likely" to order the seasoned lawmaker be put in remand until the end of the trial.
Gasim who was taken into custody on Thursday was immediately freed following the ruling.
Police had arrested the seasoned lawmaker over allegations of attempting to bribe government MPs ahead of a censure vote against parliament speaker Abdulla Maseeh.
His legal team however had appealed his arrest saying that the now opposition JP leader had been detained in violation of his parliament privileges and immunity.
According to parliament rules of procedure, unless from a scene of crime, a lawmaker can only be arrested under a warrant from a superior court on direct request from the chief prosecutor.
Gasim's legal team had questioned the validity of the case after the High Court ruling.
