Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) on Monday, revealed that Vice President and Guraidhoo MP Ghassan Maumoon, is currently in Europe to seek international legal aid to represent jailed former president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom.
Yameen was found guilty under charges of money laundering.
During a press conference held at the PPM on Sunday, former Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) leader Mohamed Nasheed (Colonel) said the government agreed to transfer Yameen under house arrest as per negotiations. Nasheed also expressed hope that Yameen would be released as agreed by the government.
Nasheed claimed that Ghassan was formulating a team of international lawyers and that PPM would submit the case to the United Nations.
The former president was charged with money laundering over a transaction that involved a deposit of USD 1 million by SOF Pvt Ltd, to Yameen's personal account at Maldives Islamic Bank (MIB).
Although Yameen initially agreed to transfer the USD 1 million to a joint escrow account at Bank of Maldives (BML) with the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), it later surfaced that the money Yameen transferred to the account was not the USD 1 million he received from SOF. The funds from SOF were instead deposited in a general investment account at MIB.
The Criminal Court sentenced the former president to five years of imprisonment and imposed a fine of USD 5 million over the money laundering charges.
The High Court accepted the appeal against the former president's 5-year sentence on December 18.
Yameen is currently serving his sentence in Maafushi Prison.
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