High Court orders to release ex-pres' accounts

High Court has quashed Criminal Court's order to freeze the accounts of former president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayyoom.

President Yameen's eight accounts were frozen under a court order as requested by Prosecutor General, over suspicions that funds linked to the controversial MMPRC graft were in his accounts. They were frozen to avoid the generation of financial revenue through the funds. At the time the accounts were frozen, they contained over MVR 100 million, revealed the police.

Right before the accounts were frozen, a letter was sent to the police by central bank Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) alerting of the suspicions. The letter, along with bank statements were submitted at the Criminal Court as supporting documents when the account freeze was requested.

The move was then appealed at the High Court by President Yameen, and a single hearing was held on the case behind closed doors. However, a second and final open hearing was held earlier on Sunday to deliver a verdict on the case. At the hearing, Chief Judge of the High Court Sujau Usman noted that the Criminal Court's order violated Article 72 and 73 of the Criminal Procedure Code. According to Article 72)a), which is specifically on the freezing of accounts and the circumstances that calls for such a request, an order should first be issued to monitor the activities of an individuals' accounts.

Article number 73)a) states that if a criminal act is identified or observed during the monitoring of such an account, a law enforcement authority can request the court for an order to freeze the funds in the particular account for a specified period, and/or to prevent any transactions from being carried out via the account.

However, it can be proven that the state did not abide by the articles in dealing with president Yameen's case, read the verdict. It further noted that the state had not requested for an order to monitor the former president's accounts although the state had adequate time to make the request between asking for an order to freeze Yameen's accounts.

The State in court said subsection e) of Article 72 is an exception to subsection a) of the same Article. Subsection e) states that the article does not prevent the obtainment of information if the Prosecutor General makes a written request for information on the accounts, deposits, trusts and safe deposit boxes of a bank customer.

The verdict said the article necessitates the Prosecutor General to have made a written request, however, the State had not made such a request at any point.

The order quashed on Sunday was effective until 12th March.