Malé, Maldives – The Ministry of Home Affairs has revealed that a decision is yet to be made by the authority, regarding the request by the family of former President Yameen Abdul Qayyoom, who is currently serving jail time for money laundering charges.
The request, which was sent to the Home Ministry around two weeks ago, was reportedly put forward by Yameen’s family due to his current medical condition.
Prior to this, Home Minister Imran Abdullah is reported to have said that Yameen was offered leniency based on his health, and was told to travel abroad for carrying out tests which cannot be performed in the Maldives, which Yameen is said to have rejected.
While it has been more than a year since Yameen was put in jail, the opposition coalition of PPM and PNC have repeatedly called for his release and his transfer to house arrest.
As Yameen continues to serve his five year sentence for money laundering, the High Court of Maldives has sustained the Criminal Court’s verdict, which is now in the process of being appealed at the Supreme Court by Yameen’s lawyers. Along with this, there are currently more charges of money laundering and accepting bribery against him.
