This comes after the state had already ordered the former President to pay the fine of MVR 25 million to the state in instalments within a period of 6 months on 23rd February 2023.
BBC
The end of 2022 took an interesting turn in the political field of the Maldives as the former President of the country Abdulla Yameen got sentenced to a lengthy 11-year imprisonment for money laundering charges.
The charges which were officially announced on 25th December 2022 included a fine of USD 5 million in addition to the 11 years for charges of both corruption as well as money laundering. This case had been ongoing since 2019, with the first hearing for this case being held on 25th April 2019. While the sentencing was supposed to take place much earlier, the sentencing was pushed back and the ruling was only made at the end of 2022.
Following the ruling, there have been a handful of court hearings as the former president did not plead guilty to his charges.
Now, there has been yet another development in the case as the Prosecutor General (PG)’s office has appealed to the High Court seeking USD 3.4 million (MVR 52 million) from former President Abdulla Yameen after he was found guilty of both charges in regards to the corruption which was involved in the leasing of the island Vaavu Atoll Aarah to a foreign party for resort development.
This comes after the state had already ordered the former President to pay the fine of MVR 25 million to the state in instalments within a period of 6 months on 23rd February 2023. While this order was appealed in the High Court on March 13th, with the former president’s team saying it was issued in violation of the procedure the order was dismissed. This dismissal was brought on due to the Criminal Court issuing the order one month after the initial order in the case, separately at the request of the prosecution as well as due to the former President being deprived of his right to speak in his own defence as there was a failure to consult before the order was issued.
The MVR 52 million that has been ordered to be paid back to the state is not the amount that was discussed in the bribery and money laundering case as that amounts to USD 1 million. According to records, the USD 1 million still remains untouched in the former president’s Islamic Bank account.
