Fmr Pres Yameen's Legal Team States Important Documents Not Received On Time

Former President Abdullah Yameen's legal team have stated that they had not received several documents related to the case in which the former President is accused of having accepted bribes and having engaged in money-laundering. His legal team had made this statement during a hearing held today.

The former President had served two years of a five-year prison sentence following a 2019 Criminal Court case that had found him guilty of laundering the acquisition fee of Vodamulla (Gaafu Alifu Atoll). The Supreme Court had acquitted the former President in November 2021. However, following the acquittal, the State had entere two additional cases against the former President.

The hearing for one of the two cases had been held today; the State accused the former President of accepting bribes in the leasing of Aarah (Vaavu Atoll). At today's hearing, the former President's legal team stated that they had received several documents pertaining to the case a very short while before the beginning of the hearing.

The hearing had been scheduled for 1.30pm yesterday afternoon, and the former President's legal team had received the documents at 12.30pm. They stated that this did not allow them the time required to properly study the documents and verify if all the documents were in order.

The former parliamentarian, Yusuf Naeem, who is accused of having given a bribe to the former President had been summoned to court to answer to the charges. Naeem had requested a period of 3-4 weeks to employ the assistance of a lawyer to verify if the documents were in order.

The Head Judge of the Criminal Court, Ahmed Shakeel, had instead granted Naeem a period of 10 days to find a lawyer; a new hearing of the case would be held on 13 January and on 27 January.