Thaa Guraidhoo MP Ghassan Maumoon visited former president Abdulla Yameen at the Maafushi jail, where the opposition Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) presidential candidate is serving a prison sentence.
Ghassan refused to comment when asked about the meeting.
A Maldives Correctional Service official told Adhadhu that Ghassan met Yameen two weeks ago after requesting a family visit. Ghassan is Yameen's nephew.
"Ghassan requested a family meeting. He met during a family visit," the official said on the condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to provide information to the media.
Sources who spoke to Adhadhu said today that some PPM leaders were unaware of the meeting. Before he went to the meeting, Ghassan did not inform the party, the sources said.
A senior PPM official with knowledge of the meeting said Yameen offered advice to Ghassan during the meeting.
"Yameen told Ghassan to stay calm," he said.
Yameen will not be able to contest in the September 9 presidential election if the prison sentence remains unchanged. The struggle for the presidential ticket is intensifying within the PPM in the event that Yameen is unable to contest.
Yameen was imprisoned over corruption in the leasing of Vaavu Aarah. While he was convicted on two counts, the penalty for the money laundering charge was a seven-year jail term with a USD 5 million fine. The sentence for the bribery charge was an 11-year jail term.
While the verdict has been appealed at the high court on behalf of Yameen, a corruption trial over the leasing of Raa Fuggiri is ongoing at the criminal court.
At Wednesday's appeal hearing at the high court, Yameen asked the judges to schedule a hearing for Thursday to conclude hearings before the upcoming Eid holidays.
But a hearing was not scheduled today. A high court media official told Adhadhu that hearings will resume in the first week after the nine-day Eid holidays.
After hearing arguments from co-defendant Yoousuf Naeem and rebuttals from the prosecution at previous hearings, the high court heard arguments from Yameen's lawyers during the three-hour hearing on Wednesday.
Before the hearing ended, Yameen's lawyer Dr. Mohamed Jameel Ahmed requested a hearing for Thursday to conclude the appeal process. But Judge Huzaifa Mohamed, who was presiding in the three-judge bench, said the court's schedule was determined in advance.
