The High Court has quashed a three-year jail sentence handed down to former MP Yoosuf Naeem in the alleged bribery in the lease of Vaavu Aarah island and ordered the Criminal Court to re-examine the case.
Yoosuf Naeem was charged with offering bribes while former President Abdulla Yameen was charged with money laundering and accepting bribes. The judgment on the appeal filed by both parties is pending today.
Presiding Justice Hassan Shafeeu held the view that the defence was not given the opportunity to present counterarguments to the surprise evidence submitted by the prosecution. This affects the rights of the defence, he noted.
He also noted that the trial report does not include any information about the decision by the lower court's judge on the points raised by the defence regarding the charges raised by the state saying that the money was offered to Yameen in return for Vaavu Aarah to a company called 2G Pvt Ltd with a 99 percent stake owned by the co-defendant Yoosuf Naeem.
“I believe that the failure to get any answers to the questions asked by the defence infringes the constitutional rights of the defence,” Justice Shafeeu said.
He also described the conviction of Yameen and Yoosuf Naeem as an injustice due to those errors by the judge.
Since the other two judges upheld the opinion, the bench unanimously passed the judgment that the case should be returned to the Criminal Court for re-examination in a way that ensures the constitutional rights of defence. The other two members of the bench were Justice Huzaina Mohamed and Justice Mohamed Saleem.
