Ex-VP Adeeb to testify against Yameen tomorrow

Former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb Abdul Ghafoor will be testifying against former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayyoom tomorrow in his money laundering trial.

The hearing has been scheduled to begin at 9.30 am at the Criminal Court.

President of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Muawwiz Rasheed will give his witness testimony regarding a statement recorded by ACC, although he has already testified during the previous hearing. During the last hearing, Muawwiz was not questioned regarding the statement as the defendant had not received a copy of the statement in question.

The testimony of Adeeb, who was once the closest aide of President Yameen will be taken next. It has been reported that Adeeb has been summoned to the Criminal Court to give his testimony. This is the first time Abeeb will be testifying in court as a witness of the state.

Adeeb made previously made several serious allegations against President Yameen. Tomorrow's hearing would be the first time the two adversaries meet after Adeeb was shunned form the government by Yameen, and jailed on multiple convictions.

The defense has previously requested not to accept Adeeb's testimony, claiming that Adeeb harbors ill feelings towards President Yameen, and because Adeeb has been accused of huge crimes. However, the presiding judge, Ahmed Hailam decided to accept Adeeb's testimony.

Shortly after the judge decided to accept his testimony, Adeeb attempted to flee to neighboring India. A statement released by his lawyers said Adeeb was being pressured and threatened into giving statements against senior officials of the previous government. While Adeeb has admitted his participation in the MMPRC graft to the state, he has agreed to assist the state's investigation by providing information and evidence on the graft.

However, when he was returned to Maldives after authorities caught him attempting to enter India, Adeeb was detained until the end of his corruption trial on the request of the State. The State made the request on the grounds that Adeeb was a flight risk..

Former Managing Director of MMPRC Ahmed Ziyath will also be testifying against President Yameen during tomorrow's hearing. Ziyath, who is currently serving a sentence after being convicted on corruption charges has not previously been a defense witness for the State.

While former ACC President Hassan Luthufee was also named s a defense witness, Luthufee on Wednesday took to Facebook to announce his decision not to testify against President Yameen. In his post, Luthufee said he does not wish to give a false testimony despite existing threats and pressures targeted at him. However, the post has since been deleted.

The remaining defense witnesses are former Tourism Minister Moos Zameer, BML board members Mohamed Shareef and Mohamed Luvaiz and an individual named Mohamed Waseem Ismail.

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. If the money laundering charge against Yameen is proven, he will receive a sentence of 5-15 years in prison.