Criminal Court Rules to Accept Yameen's Defence Evidence and Testimony from Adeeb and Ziyath in Aarah Case

The Criminal Court has decided to accept the defence evidence of former President Abdullah Yameen and to take the testimony of former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb and former Managing Director of the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) Abdullah Ziyath, who are testifying as state witnesses, in the trial of the case filed against the former President over the lease of V. Aarah. The former President is charged in connection with the lease of Aarah with accepting USD one million as a bribe and laundering the money. Former Felidhoo constituency MP Yousuf Naeem is also charged in the case. As their defence, Yameen and Yousuf Naeem maintain that the USD one million deposited into Yameen's account was money obtained from dollar trading transactions, and that the Maldivian rufiyaa equivalent of that amount was handed over to Yousuf Naeem as cash. Submitted as defence witnesses to prove this are former Deputy Mayor of Malé Ahmed Nareesh, a person named Abdullah Rasheed, Vilimale' constituency MP Mohamed Ismail and Hulhudhoo constituency MP Mohamed Shahid. A document explaining the dollar trading was also submitted as evidence. However, because that evidence was not disclosed during the investigation stage of the case, the state asked the court not to grant the opportunity for it to be presented. At the Criminal Court today, the state requested that no opportunity be given for defence evidence in the trial of the case against former President Abdullah Yameen over the lease of V. Aarah. Judge Ali Nadeem, who is hearing the case, today decided to allow the evidence. He said the reason the state sought not to accept the evidence was related to giving an opportunity for rebuttal to the witnesses, and that this is a matter on which the court must decide after the testimony has been taken. As a pre-trial motion, Yameen's side had requested that many witnesses, including Adeeb and Ziyath, who are state witnesses, not be accepted. That request was made on the basis that under the Evidence Act currently in force, Adeeb's and Ziyath's testimony cannot be taken. The law states that persons whose truthfulness and fairness are in question are persons who have lost the credibility to give testimony. Judge Ali Nadeem said that Adeeb's testimony is testimony that must be taken in this case, and that this is because it is Adeeb and Ziyath who are giving testimony related to the facts contained in the case. While the judge decided, as Yameen had requested, not to accept the testimony of Dhiggaru constituency MP Ahmed Nazim, he allowed all other evidence of the state. Yameen's lawyers said that under the Evidence Act currently in force, the testimony of former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb and MMPRC's former Managing Director Abdullah Ziyath can no longer be accepted. Nareesh has previously testified stating that the USD one million deposited into Yameen's account was money obtained from dollar trading transactions and that the Maldivian rufiyaa equivalent was handed over to Yousuf as cash. However, with major questions having been raised about that testimony of his, he has also taken a contradictory position, giving testimony as a defence witness in the R. Fuggiri case filed against Yameen. The trial currently under way at the Criminal Court in the Aarah case is one in which Yameen was sentenced to 11 years in prison for accepting a bribe and money laundering, and after that sentence was annulled, the High Court ordered that the case be heard again at the Criminal Court. The trial of the charge against Yameen in the case alleging the acceptance of a bribe and money laundering in connection with the Fuggiri lease transaction is also being proceeded with at the Criminal Court. A hearing in that case concluded today.