Former President Abdulla Yameen lied about not being served a notice for payment of a fine by the tax authority, the Supreme Court's judgment on his candidacy revealed today.
The Elections Commission (EC) considered the unpaid fine to be a decreed debt and cited it as a reason along with Yameen's prison sentence for rejecting his candidacy.
But Yameen contended that the fine would only become a decreed debt if the Civil Court orders payment after the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) files a case for enforcement. As Yameen has appealed his conviction, the fine would not be owed until a final judgment is delivered, lawyers argued.
A state attorney said at the Supreme Court hearing that MIRA did serve a notice of payment over the unpaid fine. In response, Yameen stood up and denied receiving any chit or signing any document to acknowledge receipt.
MIRA did serve a notice to Yameen after he did not pay the fine within six months, the Supreme Court's judgment today noted, citing a MIRA document from July 6 about sending the notice to jail and requesting Maldives Correctional Services officers to hand it over to Yameen's legal team.
"Abdulla Yameen signed the notice and put his fingerprint on it," Justice Husnu Suood's opinion stated.
The Supreme Court ruled today that the fine could be considered a decreed debt. If a fine imposed by a court is not paid within the stipulated period, it would be a decreed debt, stated the opinion, which was backed by all the justices.
