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‘Arrested Supreme Court justices had influenced lower court verdicts’

Nafaahath Ibrahim
06 May 2018, MVT 11:58
Criminal Court Judge Adam Arif
Nafaahath Ibrahim
06 May 2018, MVT 11:58

The recently leaked documents of the police investigation into the Supreme Court (SC)’s ruling of February 1, show that two judges of the Criminal Court and Civil Court had confessed that, up until the top court’s landmark verdict, some of the lower courts’ rulings came directly from SC Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and SC Judge Ali Hameed.

In the statement given by the Criminal Court’s Chief Judge Adam Arif for the police investigations, some rulings from the Criminal Court, until February 1, were dictated by Saeed and Hameed.

The Civil Court’s Judge Mohamed Haleem had revealed to the police that the verdicts for the now defunct “Haveeru” newspaper’s employees case, ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM)’s leadership case, and some of Villa Group’s cases were issued as per the instructions of Saeed and Hameed.

In addition to the testimonies of these judges, statements given by some police officers were also leaked to social media on Tuesday. The police had verified that the documents were legitimate and part of the ongoing investigation of the events that unfolded in February. Police noted that they were investigating the leak.

In his statement for the police investigations, Judge Adam Arif claimed that both judges Ali Hameed and Abdulla Saeed had taken bribes from opposition leaders to influence the Supreme Court’s verdict on February 1. He stated that on the night of that verdict, Saeed and Hameed had called him from Judicial Administrator Hassan Saeed’s phone, and instructed him on how to proceed with the verdict. He added that he was ordered to release certain politicians by the two SC Judges.

Arif revealed that Judge Ali Hameed had ordered to release other people who were also implicated by the same evidence used against Dhiggaru MP Faris Maumoon, who was arrested under bribery charges. He elaborated that after the court staff looked into the issue, “the others” were the lawmakers Ilham Ahmed and Abdulla Sinan, and Faris’ brother-in-law Mohamed Nadheem.

When the order for the arrest of Judicial Administrator Hassan Saeed came after the February 1 verdict, Arif stated that he was questioned by Abdulla Saeed over the phone about who had issued the arrest order. Abdulla Saeed was apparently furious to know it was Judge Ahmed Hailam who had been on duty at the time, and had questioned Hailam’s authority. Arif added that when he had refused Abdulla Saeed’s request to revert the arrest order for Hassan Saeed, the chief justice had threatened to take action against Arif.

Both Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and Judge Ali Hameed have been arrested and remanded until the end of their trails under the state of emergency declared on February 5.

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