Hearing moved up in ex-pres' money laundering trial

The Criminal Court has rescheduled the next hearing in former president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayyoom's money-laundering trial.

The former president will appear for the hearing October 9 at 1 p.m., one day earlier than previously scheduled.

While the trial is coming to a close, both the prosecution and defense will be presenting their closing statements during the next hearing. If President Yameen is found guilty, an additional hearing will be scheduled to discuss his sentence.

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.

While two tourism ministers during President Yameen's tenure, Ahmed Adeeb Abdul Ghafoor and Moosa Zameer has testified against the president, former Managing Director of MMPRC Abdulla Ziyath and former ACC deputy President Muawwiz Rasheed also gave their witness statement against president Yameen. While one witness named by the state, the former president of ACC Hassan Luthufee has refused to give his testimony, the defense's sole witness former governor Azeema Adam also declined to testify in the trial.