The prosecution has decided not to call Sun company owner and Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) president Ahmed Siyam Mohamed and MDA vice president Ali Mauroof as witnesses in the Fuggiri lease corruption trial after the pair declined to testify.
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.
As the trial resumed after charges against Riza were temporarily withdrawn, Siyam and Mauroof were on the list of state witnesses.
However, both wrote to the Criminal Court saying they do not wish to testify. At the hearing held today, Judge Ali Nadheem asked the prosecution if the state wished to take their testimony. The prosecutor said the state has decided not to call them as witnesses.
In addition to Siyam and Mauroof, Mohamed Shakir and former vice president Ahmed Adeeb's driver Mohamed Hussain also sent letters to the court saying they do not want to testify. The prosecutor said today that the state did not want to call them as witnesses.
Judge Ali Nadheem announced that the testimony of the two remaining prosecution witnesses will be scheduled for next Thursday.
The court heard testimony today from Ahmed Amir, who served as a bodyguard to Adeeb when he was vice president. He testified to having seen a meeting at the MMPRC about the Fuggiri deal.
Adeeb, then-MMPRC managing director Abdulla Ziyath, Mauroof, Siyam's brother Salim, Krik Riza and an MMPRC staff took part in the meeting, according to Adeeb's testimony. It was agreed at the meeting to lower the acquisition cost of the island from USD 2.5 million to USD 1.55 million, Adeeb had said.
Amir said in his testimony today that he saw the meeting because he went into the meeting room to hand over a bag to Adeeb that had been left in the car.
As the Fuggiri trial proceeds, Yameen is already serving an 11-year jail sentence.
The conviction 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 presiding over the case on a leave of absence.
Yameen, who was awarded the opposition Progressive Party of Maldives ticket, will be barred from contesting in the upcoming presidential election unless his prison sentence 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.
