A hearing scheduled for Sunday in the Fuggiri lease corruption trial was cancelled after prosecution witnesses failed to appear in court.
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 Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) corruption scandal that occurred during Yameen's 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.
Five hearings were previously cancelled due to Krik Riza's illness. Charges against Riza were then temporarily withdrawn at the request of the state. The case was taken back until the police could analyze an audio recording of an alleged conversation between Riza and Assistant Commissioner of Police Mohamed Riyaz. The audio was submitted by Riza as defense evidence.
A hearing took place last week and the court heard testimony from two witnesses. Today's hearing was cancelled because two state witnesses who were due to testify did not attend, according to Judge Ali Nadheem's section of the Criminal Court, which was assigned the case.
Eight prosecution witnesses have testified so far, including former vice president Ahmed Adeeb and former MMPRC managing director Abdulla Ziyath, the chief architects of the embezzlement scheme.
As the Fuggiri trial proceeds, Yameen is already serving an 11-year prison sentence.
The jail term handed over alleged corruption in the lease of Vaavu Aarah was appealed at the High Court. But the appeal has stalled with one of the judges on leave.
Yameen, who was awarded the presidential ticket of the opposition Progressive Party of Maldives, cannot contest in the election unless his conviction is overturned.
Fuggiri case
According to the prosecution, Yameen used his influence as president to collect USD 1,117,000 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 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.
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, Krik Riza and the Sun companies say that the transactions were unrelated to the Fuggiri lease, claiming it was a currency exchange transaction with a Sun company to convert US dollars. Defence witnesses were submitted to prove the claim.
