The Criminal Court's verdict on former President Abdulla Yameen case brought to light additional details about the controversial case, that were previously speculated, but never confirmed.
On Sunday, Yameen was found guilty of accepting bribes and money laundering through the lease transaction of Vaavu atoll, Aarah, while he was still in office. The former president received an 11-year jail sentence and was ordered to pay a fine of USD 5 million.
The court released the summary report of Yameen's verdict on Monday, which revealed that false evidence was submitted in Yameen's defence, indicating perjury.
During the trial, the defence claimed that the questionable USD 1 million he received was from buying US Dollars from the former Felidhoo MP Yusuf Naeem. Naeem was also found guilty, and sentenced to jail.
The Deputy Mayor of Malé City Ahmed Nareesh, a close ally of the former president, testified in his trial, stating that they had counted money worth USD 1 million in Maldivian Rufiyaa (which amounts to approximately MVR 15 million) upon Yameen's request, at his house, and then transported the money in a car to Naeem.
Former Hoarafushi MP Mohamed Ismail also testified in court that he facilitated the transaction so that Yameen Naeem could buy dollars from .
The Criminal Court's verdict stated that the witnesses who testified on behalf of Yameen misused the criminal justice system. It said that the testimony contained fraudulent and inaccurate information; inconsistencies in the witness statements and the loose threads in the testimonies confirmed this.
"The court believes the witnesses had provided manufactured testimonies with the intention to achieve a particular goal," the verdict states.
The 105-page judgement highlighted that there were discrepancies in the defence witness testimonies. This includes the inability of the witnesses to specify the date or time of the day when the MVR 15 million was handed over to Yusuf Naeem, while they were able to recall other smaller details of what had happened on that day.
"Ahmed Nareesh was able to say where he sat in the car, where Abdulla Rasheed was [in the car] and where they had kept the money bags in the car, without any difficulties. He was able to answer immediately when questioned about the small details, yet, it is astonishing that he is not able to answer when asked about what date and time this had happened," the verdict statement said.
"It is strange he was able to recall the route and roads taken to go from Ahmed Naresh's house to Galolhu Dhooves, from Galolhu Dhooves to Yoosuf Naeem's house, and from Yoosuf Naeem's house back to Galolhu Dhooves, yet that they were unable to say whether this happened during day or night time," the verdict said.
"[We] believe that the witness had prepared beforehand and testified to something that did not happen," Chief Justice Ahmed Shakil said in the verdict.
The verdict pointed out more loopholes in the testimony of the second witness, Abdullah Rasheed, who accompanied Naresh to the house that day. The court said that he could not tell if he was sitting or standing while the money was being counted in Dhooves, and that he could not even tell how he entered Yusuf Naeem's house.
The court also observed that the testimony from the second witness stated that Naeem had signed a document acknowledging receiving MVR 15 million after they delivered it, without counting the money. The court did not find it reasonable that a person would accept such a large sum of money without counting exactly how much there was.
While Nareesh and Rasheed claim they handed over MVR 15,420,000 to Naeem in September 2015, the validity of this claim appears to be questionable. The undated document states Naeem received the equivalent of USD 1 million in Rufiyaa, while Yameen received USD 1 million.
The documents submitted as evidence showed that the cheque for USD 1 million issued from Naeem's account was deposited into Yameen's account on September 17. The verdict report stated that from that piece of information, it could be inferred that the money was delivered to Naeem on or prior to September 17. The validity of this is being questioned because Yameen left for Saudi Arabia the next day, on September 18, to perform the holy pilgrimage of Hajj.
While it is possible that the money was handed over on September 17 because of the time the money was deposited, the prosecutor's submitted evidence proving that Nareesh had clocked into work at 6:00 A.M that day. He worked in Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) then. However, since Nareesh could not specify the time of the day when the money was handed over, the state could not prove whether it was done while he was on duty or later, the verdict detailed.
Furthermore, the court stated that MP Mohamed Ismail's testimony was insignificant as he was unable to recall any more details beyond arranging the monetary transaction for the former President through Naeem.The verdict stated that the testimonies proved that Yameen's intent was wrong as he had personally called people to ensure that the money was counted, transported and handed over; the court highlighted that all this was done while he was the President of the country, which comes with certain obligations.
The verdict then referred to Yameen exercising his right to silence during the investigation and his defence submitting evidence to court later on. The judgement said that if it was actually a dollar-selling transaction, his defence would have revealed this during the investigation.
"When serious criminal charges are levied due to an innocent transaction, a person would usually hurry to prove they are innocent if they have the evidence to prove it. If someone had the evidence to support their innocence in relation to the criminal allegations brought against them, it does not seem plausible that they would choose to keep silent."
The court did not accept the document to buy and sell US Dollars submitted by Yameen's defence since it was information that could have been disclosed during the investigation process. The court also decided that the document was irrelevant to the case because it was undated.
The verdict further stated that the witness testimonies presented by Yameen could not be relied upon as they were only presented during the hearings, and not the investigation process. The court also emphasised how, in situations where the accused must answer, Islamic jurisprudence (Fiqh) considers silence to be an answer.
Yameen's failure to present evidence to the investigation and then presenting it later at the hearing was viewed by the court as blatant disregard for criminal procedure, and it could be interpreted as "playing with the justice system," the report said.
Although Yameen's lawyers requested that the testimonies of former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb and former MMPRC Managing Director Abdulla Ziyath not be used against Yameen, the court accepted the Supreme Court's verdict overturning Yameen's previous five-year prison sentence for money laundering. The apex court's verdict stated that the testimony of these two, who are currently serving their respective sentences in the MMPRC corruption case, cannot be accepted on their word alone. However, if their testimonies can be connected to some piece of evidence, their statements can be considered, and for this reason, they were accounted for when making the verdict.
In a press conference held by the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and People's National Congress (PMC) on Tuesday, they denied the Criminal Court's verdict, stating that fraudulent evidence was submitted for Yameen's defence.
Vice President of PNC Abdul Raheem Abdulla maintained that no false evidence was submitted on Yameen's behalf.
He also said the judgement was rendered by the Criminal Court against the ruling of the Supreme Court, and that it had not taken into account all of the evidence.
"The testimony of Adeeb and Ziyath was accepted in the verdict; that is why we are calling it a 'haram' verdict and that it is a null and void verdict," he said at the rally.
He had also questioned why Nareesh's testimony was considered invalid while Adeeb's was considered.
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