Criminal Court issues guilty verdict to Pres Yameen as directed by the gov

The Criminal Court of the Maldives has issued a guilty verdict in the case against opposition leader and former President Abdullah Yameen Abdul Gayyoom over the lease of V.Aarah for resort development.

The state had sought a minimum sentence of eight years in prison for the bribery charges and an 11-year jail term for money laundering. Hence, the state sought a total jail term of 19 years.

Without going into any detail on how the judge derived the verdict, the judge stated that the former president was guilty of both charges.

A separate session has been scheduled at the criminal to decide on the punishment.

It has been revealed before that the verdict was prepaid by Misbah another judge at the criminal court. Details of the verdicts were shared with senior officials of the government last week.