Former President of Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) Hassan Luthufee, who has been named as a witness against former president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom in his money laundering trial has announced his refusal to testify against the former president.
Hassan Luthufee who currently resides abroad made the declaration while the Criminal Court has scheduled a hearing for Thursday.
President Yameen is accused of defying the agreement between himself and ACC, which stipulated the former president to move funds in his Maldives Islamic Bank (MIB) account that are suspected of having being laundered, into an escrow account set up between the two parties.
While two cheques worth US$ 1 million were deposited into Yameen's MIB account by a private company named SOF Pvt Ltd, the funds are said to be embezzled state funds that were to be received by Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Company as acquisition cost for leasing islands for tourism purpose.
ACC instructed Yameen to move the deposited funds to the escrow account, however, President Yameen transferred US$ 1 million from his Bank of Maldives (BML) account instead of from the account in question. The transferred funds are reported to have been deposited into President Yameen's BML account by former Tourism Minister Moosa Zameer.
Yameen is accused of attempting to cover up the source and trail of the original funds in his MIB account in an attempt to launder the funds. The original funds deposited by SOF Pvt Ltd were moved to President Yameen's investment account at Maldives Islamic Bank.
The current President of ACC Muawwiz Rasheed who was the Vice Presient of ACC then, testified against Yameen during the last hearing.
In his witness statement, Muawwiz said he met with the former president at the President's Office after suspicious activity was noticed. Then ACC head, Hassan Luthufee was also in attendance at the meeting, during which Yameen's statement was taken. However, the funds had not been declared as embezzled funds at the time, said Muawwiz.
In a Facebook post published by Hassan Luthufee on Wednesday, he denied having met with President Yameen regarding the funds in question. He neither met with President Yameen and Muawwiz, nor with President Yameen alone at any point over the issue, he said. He further denied instructing President Yameen to return the funds to ACC.
"I did not instruct as such as a decision had not been at that point whether the funds should be returned to the State. In the circumstance that no such decision has been made, there are no grounds on which I can ask [President Yameen] to return the funds", he wrote.
Luthufee added that he continues to be pressured and threatened by senior officials of the current government to give a false testimony against President Yameen. He has received death threats, and has been attacked on the streets of Male' in the past, he said.
"I refuse to testify as I believe returning to Maldives would put my life in jeopardy, and because I do not want to give a false testimony in court against anyone, despite any threats and warnings I receive", he said.
Luthufee has previously claimed he left the country due to threats. He also alleged that Home Minister Imran Abdulla threatened him, which the minister has denied.
While witness testimonies against the defense will be taken at Thursdays hearing, the state has named former tourism ministers Abdulla Zameer, Ahmed Adeeb and former Managing Director of MMPRC Abdulla Ziyath, and BML board members Mohamed Shareef and Mohamed Luvaiz, and an individual named Mohamed Waseem Ismail as witnesses against the defense.
Former President of ACC Hassan Luthufee
