Malé, Maldives – The former President of Maldives Yameen Abdul Gayyoom on Thursday denied all charges in the V. Aarah case.
Prosecution is charging former President Yameen with money laundering and acceptance of a bribe of USD 1 million from former MP of Felidhoo Constituency Yusuf Naeem. The charges for both parties are as follows.
- Former President Yameen Abdul Gayyoom – Money laundering under Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Act, 2014 (Act No. 10 of 2014) and acceptance of a bribe under Chapter 510(a)(d) of the Maldives Penal Code (Law No. 6/2014)
- Former MP of Felidhoo Constituency Yusuf Naeem – Bribery under Chapter 510(b)(d) of the Maldives Penal Code (Law No. 6/2014)
The former president denied both charges at today’s hearing.
As with the previous hearing, Yameen and his defense repeated that the charges were unclear, which as rejected by the judge.
At the hearing today, the prosecution stated that they have evidence that ex-President Yameen discussed the Aarah deal with then Vice President Ahmed Adeeb via phone call.
Yusuf Naeem sent text messages to Adeeb saying that the [Aarah] deal was finalized after ‘giving a good amount’ to former President Yameen.
Prosecutor General’s Office
The Court has provided time to the defense to submit pre trial documents. The next hearing for the case will be held on 16 February 2022.
