Maafannu Medhu MP Ibrahim Rasheed 'Bonde' was the representative of the Indian businessmen behind the "deal" to lease Raa Fuggiri, former vice president Ahmed Adeeb said on Monday.
Former president Abdulla Yameen is on trial along with businessman Ahmed 'Krik' Riza and the Sun Investment and Sun Construction and Engineering companies over the leasing of Raa Fuggiri island, which was part of the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) corruption scandal that occurred during his administration.
Yameen was charged with money laundering and accepting a bribe. Riza was charged with money laundering and acting as an intermediary to bribery. Both Sun companies were charged with money laundering.
The criminal court heard witness testimony on Monday from former tourism minister and vice president Adeeb and former MMPRC managing director Abdulla Ziyath, both of whom have admitted in court to carrying out the MMPRC embezzlement scheme.
In his testimony, Adeeb said MP Rasheed was present at the first meeting with the influential Indian businessmen who were operating a Dubai company.
When Yameen's defence lawyer Adam Shameem asked Adeeb about the capacity in which Bonde joined the meeting, Adeeb said Bonde was the company's representative in the Maldives.
The acquisition cost for the island agreed upon at the meeting was USD 2.5 million. But a reduction to USD 400,000 was requested during discussions that took place later through Krik Riza, Adeeb said.
But since other many Raa atoll islands had been leased at much higher costs at the time, Adeeb said he advised leasing the island for USD 1.55 million. The lease agreement was signed after confirming that a commission was paid to Yameen, he said.
Fuggiri case
According to the prosecution, Yameen used his influence as president to collect USD 1.1 million as a bribe through Riza and laundered the money through Sun Investment and Sun Construction and Engineering.
Fuggiri was leased through the MMPRC without a bidding process to the Dubai-based Classic Citi Island Holding. Fuggiri was leased to the company for USD 1.55 million. While bribery was suspected in the leasing of Fuggiri, the Pandora Papers revealed that influential Indian businessmen were behind the deal.
Records from the leaked Pandora Papers showed that Classic Citi was a partnership involving the family business of Indian property developer Avinash Bhosale and influential logistics businessman Amit Kumar Gandhi.
The charges
On May 26, 2016, USD 1.1 million was transferred from an account opened under Riza's name at the Bank of Ceylon to Sun Construction. The money was deposited as an "in-house transfer" on June 7, 2016 to an account opened by Sun Investment at the Bank of India.
On the same day, the money was deposited with an additional USD 800 to an account opened under Yameen's name at the Islamic Bank.
