Maldives police on Wednesday insisted that there was no evidence linking incumbent president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom to the vessel which had been flying the Maldives flag suspected of transferring goods to a North Korean tanker in defiance of United Nations (UN) Security Council earlier this year.
The Japanese government late February had published further evidence of North Korean vessels engaged in ship-to-ship (STS) transfers on high seas which is prohibited under UN Security Council sanctions.
The North Korean-flagged tanker 'Chon Ma San', designated by the United States as a sanction target, was spotted by a Japanese surveillance plane with the Maldivian-flagged tanker 'Xin Yuan 18' some 250 km (156 miles) east of Shanghai.
Fresh accusations had emerged that president Yameen had links to the vessel which police spokesperson Ahmed Shifan dismissed as blatant lies.
Police had arrested a local businessman now identified as Abdulla Fahmy on March 5 in connection to the incident.
Shifan said the police had conducted an extensive investigation into the incident and had not found any evidence linking the president to the vessel.
Police have now accused the suspect of funding a plot to overthrow the government, forging documents of the transport authority and creating a fake email account of a top transport authority official to communicate with the international maritime organization.
Fahmy has also been accused of creating call signs for a vessel not registered in the Maldives and using the country's flag on an unregistered vessel.
The arrest came days after the Maldives authorities had insisted that the tanker was not a vessel registered in the Maldives.
The government had also said Maldives does not grant open ship registration to sail outside the country in international waters under the Maldivian flag.
North Korea last year conducted dozens of missile launches and its sixth and largest nuclear test as it pursues its goal of developing a nuclear armed missile capable of reaching the United States, triggering deeper U.N. Security Council sanctions.
