Attorney General has decided to file a case against former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Qayyoom for not honouring the court ordered payment of USD 5 million to the state.
President Yameen is serving five-year imprisonment for laundering USD 1 million after the Criminal Court found him guilty of money laundering. The Criminal Court sentenced him to five years in jail and ordered him to pay US$ 5 million to the state through Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) within six months. The deadline expired on June 28.
According to Attorney General Office (AGO), since President Yameen has not paid the money as per the verdict, work is underway to file a case over the matter. AGO is currently working on the necessary actions to file the claim, and once it is done, the case will be forwarded to Civil Court, said AGO.
President Yameen has appealed to the High Court seeking to postpone the payment of USD 5 million due to the state, stating that it is challenging to settle the payment from behind the bars. However, the court's verdict was that there were no grounds for delaying the payment.
President Yameen has also filed an appeal case over the court's initial verdict. Presently, court hearings are ongoing regarding the appeal. The most recent hearing was held on Wednesday, in which President Yameen said he received USD 5 million as a donation for political activities.
The former President was guilty of depositing USD 1 million received from SoF Company in his saving account and obtaining gains from it while Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) had ordered to deposit the money to an escrow account in ACC. The state says the USD 1 million deposited to President Yameen’s account by SoF was payment received for the government on leasing the island, Gdh. Vodamulaa to be developed as a resort.
