Prosecutor General's Office has formally charged former president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayyoom with money laundering.
PG Office on Wednesday revealed that the case has been filed at the Criminal Court for prosecution. In the recent months, President Yameen was summoned to the police station multiple times for questioning over graft allegations.
Police investigations have revealed that the funds embezzled from Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Company (MMPRC) was deposited into a Maldives Islamic Bank (MIB) account under former President Yameen Abdul Gayyoom's name. The police have also learnt Yameen Abdul Gayyoom had provided false information to state authorities regarding the funds.
The $1 million was deposited into President Yameen's account by SOF Private Limited, whose account was used to move around the embezzled funds.
Upon investigation, it was identified that the funds were supposed to be deposited into State accounts, and President Yameen was subsequently asked to transfer the funds back to state accounts. However, President Yameen had not obliged with the request, and had utilized the funds to generate financial profit.
Attorney General's Office recently shared the evidences obtained by the office regarding the transactions.
Attorney General's Office earlier revealed that they have obtained evidence that former President Yameen Abdul Gayyoom and jailed former Vice President, Ahmed Adeeb Abdul Ghafoor were involved in a money-laundering scheme.
They revealed that main ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) had submitted several documents that confirm suspicious transactions were carried out or planned to be carried out by Yameen, Adeeb several other senior government officials of the previous government.
The documents presented by MDP were compiled after analyzing data collected from mobile phones that belonged to Adeeb, with the assistance of an international fraud investigation firm. An investigative report by the firm along with supporting documents were also submitted to the AG office by MDP.
The official audit report into the Maldives Media and PR Corporation (MMPRC) scandal, had revealed that over USD79 million had been embezzled through the state tourism promotion company.
Al Jazeera cited a confidential letter sent the country's anti-money laundering body to the police saying the then president received the money in two installments to a private bank account at the Maldives Islamic Bank (MIB).
The document from the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), an agency under the Maldives' central bank, was dated September 13 and was addressed to the then acting police commissioner Abdulla Nawaz.
In the letter, the FIU said a third party deposited USD648,508 in hard currency into the president's account on September 5. Another USD810,635 was deposited to the same account on September 10.
The whole amount was later withdrawn in hard currency, Al Jazeera said referring to the letter.
The former president continues to deny the allegations insisting that he had done nothing wrong.
Former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayyoom
