Criminal Court is set to resume opposition Jumhoory Party (JP) leader Gasim Ibrahim's trial on Monday after a brief hiatus.
The business magnate had three separate charges levied against him, which include, conspiring to overthrow the government, attempting to bribe government lawmakers ahead of the censure motion against parliament speaker Abdullah Maseeh in late March, and undue influence on a state official
The Maamigili MP was first arrested on April 6 over the bribery allegations made ahead of the censure motion against parliament’s speaker Abdulla Maseeh and undue influence on a state official; however, the high court freed him days later after ruling that he was arrested in violence of due procedure.
Gasim was arrested again over allegations of orchestrating a plot to overthrow the government and remanded for 15 days.
Gasim, on 10 May, was granted conditional release from remand by the Criminal Court.
The court’s sanctioned conditions prohibited the seasoned lawmaker from partaking or making public speeches deemed to be inciting discord or allowing others to use his property for such incitements. It also stated that he will need written permission from the police before travelling overseas. Gasim is also to refrain from tempering with the evidence and fully cooperating with the police investigation.
Gasim was remanded twice for a total of 19 days before he was freed by the court under strict conditions after prosecutors sought a third remand extension.
The court had later annulled the conditions of the business magnate's release.
Gasim's trial is set to resume days after the opposition wrested parliament control from the government to file a fresh censure motion against the speaker.
After the now opposition coalition in March had filed a second motion to unseat speaker Abdulla Maseeh, the government had engineered an amendment to the parliament rules of procedure raising the number of lawmaker signatures required to file a censure motion against the speaker and his deputy from 15 to 42.
The opposition had filed the third censure motion against Maseeh with 45 lawmakers which included ten lawmakers from the ruling party.
