Police officers who examined the phone of former vice president Ahmed Adeeb and the laptop of former Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) managing director Abdulla Ziyath testified on Tuesday in the corruption trial over the leasing of Raa Fuggiri.
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 Fuggiri lease, which was part of the 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 testimony from an officer who examined Ziyath's laptop and an officer who examined Adeeb's phone and analyzed data from three phones used by Adeeb.
The time set for Tuesday's hearing was up when prosecutors finished questioning the officer who examined Adeeb's phone. The hearing concluded with cross-examination from defence lawyers scheduled for Wednesday's hearing.
Adeeb and Ziyath testified during Monday's hearing, which took place from 9 in the morning to after 10 at night in order to conclude questioning from both sides.
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.
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.
Yameen's predicament
Yameen, who was awarded the presidential ticket of the Progressive Party of Maldives, is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence. He was convicted at the criminal court of accepting a USD 1.1 million as a bribe to lease Vaavu Aarah island through the MMPRC and then laundering the money. The High Court is hearing an appeal of the verdict.
Yameen will be barred from contesting in the upcoming presidential election unless his prison sentence is overturned.
According to the constitution, if a presidential candidate has been convicted of a criminal offence and sentenced to a term of more than 12 months, three years must have elapsed since his release or pardon.
Opposition supporters have been staging nightly protests in the streets of Male' calling for Yameen's release.
