A hearing has been scheduled for Thursday in former president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayyoom's money laundering trial.
Department of Judicial Administration (DJA)'s media official Faisal Adam informed 'AVAS' that the hearing is scheduled to take place at 9:30 am on Thursday. The hearing will be broadcast live on national TV.
Two hearings have already taken place in President Yameen's money laundering trial. During the latest hearing held on 4th August, Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) President Muawwiz Rasheed testified against President Yameen.
Although Muawwiz testified during the last hearing, he will be summoned to court again to take his witness statement regarding a statement prepared by ACC. During the last hearing, questions were not asked regarding the statement as President Yameen had not received a copy of said statement.
During the most recent hearing, the defense named former governor Azeema Adam as its sole witness while a statement issued by the central bank refuting the allegations made in the Al Jazeera documentary "Stealing Paradise" was included as documentary evidence.
During the next hearing, the statements of the State's remaining witnesses will be recorded. The witnesses are former tourism ministers during former President Yameen's administration Ahmed Adeeb and Moosa Zameer, Former ACC head Hassan Luthufee, former Managing Director of MMPRC Abdulla Ziyath and Board members of BML Mohamed Shareef and Mohamed Luvaiz in addition to an individual named Mohamed Waseem Ismail.
The prosecution submitted the escrow agreement between ACC and President Yameen, ACC's investigation report, MMPRC's audit report, President Yameen's statement given to ACC, cheques, slips and bank statements of transactions pertaining to the case in addition to President Yameen's financial statement as documentary evidence against the former president.
At the first procedural hearing of the case, the Prosecutor General presented in detail the charges against the former president. The PG attorney, Mohamed Alim stated that two cheques worth US$ one million issued by private company named SOF Private Limited were deposited into President Yameen’s saving account at Maldives Islamic Bank (MIB), which was later moved to Yameen’s General Investment account at the same bank. SOF Pvt Ltd is said to have embezzled funds received by Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) in the biggest corruption scandal witnessed by the country.
An escrow account was later set up between President Yameen and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to keep the funds in question until the end of investigation. However, the funds that were deposited into the escrow account were not the funds in Yameen’s account, with the deposited US$ one million having originated from Yameen’s Tourism Minister Moosa Zameer’s account.
Yameen’s failure to transfer the original funds into the escrow account and instead depositing funds from another source can be assumed to be an attempt to launder the original funds which are suspected to be illegal funds, said the PG attorney. If the money laundering charge against Yameen is proven, he will receive a sentence of 5-15 years in prison.
A hearing has been scheduled for Thursday in former president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayyoom's money laundering trial.
