Vice President of opposing Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and Naifaru MP Ahmed Shiyam has stated that PPM leader and former president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayyoom had to endure the most injustice during 2019.
Shiyam made the statement in a tweet published calling to free President Yameen who was jailed for five years in November after being found guilty of money laundering.
In his tweet posted Wednesday, Shiyam said on the first day of the new year, he was calling to free President Yameen from imprisonment. The person who had to suffer the highest degree of injustice in the last year was their leader, said Shiyam.
Former President Yameen was accused of defying the agreement between himself and the Anti-Corruption Commission, which stipulated the former president to move funds in his Maldives Islamic Bank (MIB) account that are suspected of having been laundered, into an escrow account set up between the two parties.
Failing to do so, and moving the funds in question into an investment account, the former president deposited funds from another source into the escrow account. Criminal Court last month found Yameen guilty of money laundering and sentenced him to five years imprisonment, ordering him to pay the state an amount of US$ 5 million within six months.
While the Criminal Court verdict has been appealed at the High Court, the former president's legal team has requested to release the High Court President Yameen on bail until the court reaches a decision on the appeal. No decisions have been made by the High Court thus far.
