The acquisition cost determined to lease Raa Fuggiri through the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) was lower than other islands, an MMPRC staff at the time of the resort deal told the court today.
Former President Abdulla Yameen is on trial along with the Sun Investment and Sun Construction and Engineering companies over alleged corruption in the Fuggiri lease.
Yameen was charged with money laundering and accepting a bribe. Both Sun companies were charged with money laundering.
A prosecution witness was called to the stand at today's hearing. Mohamed Shifau previously worked at the MMPRC on the Baresdhoo tourism project.
Shifau said he was also involved in administrative work at times. He recalled organizing a meeting for the Fuggiri transaction as instructed by MMPRC managing director Abdulla Ziyath.
The participants signed the meeting notes after the meeting concluded, during which Shifau saw the acquisition cost, noticed that it was too low and raised questions.
"I don't remember now, as it has been so long. The low cost stayed in my memory because I questioned it so much that day," he said.
The witness said managing director Ziyath spoke to him about the cost a few days before the meeting. The agreement was later signed with the cost stated in the meeting notes, which was lower than the cost that Ziyath previously mentioned.
An MP, two Indians representing the foreign investor and Ahmed 'Krik' Riza participated in the meeting, the witness said.
Riza was also charged with bribery but the charge was later withdrawn. 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.
At a previous hearing, former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb also testified about the meeting. According to Adeeb, the participants included himself, Ziyath, then-Kendhikulhudhoo MP Ali Mauroof, Sun owner Ahmed Siyam's brother Salim and Krik Riza.
A reduction in the acquisition cost from USD 2.5 million to USD 1.55 million was agreed during the meeting, Adeeb said.
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.
