Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is probing allegations that former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom received funds related to three major development projects undertaken by his administration.
Members of the graft watchdog revealed the investigation on Tuesday, during a sit-down with the parliamentary Committee on Public Finance.
Thimarafushi MP Abdulla Riyaz of Jumhooree Party posed questions to ACC, regarding the USD 1 million deposited to Yameen's personal account by SOF, the private firm implicated in the embezzlement of MVR 1.3 billion from Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC).
In response, ACC's President Muavviz Rasheed stated that investigations are still ingoing into some issues related to the MMPRC scandal. He shared that ACC has received certain information they could not obtain during Yameen's presidency, such as details of the former president's bank accounts.
Muavviz revealed that ACC's investigative team uncovered that transactions in cash had been deposited to various accounts of Yameen. Some of the funds were related to three major development projects undertaken by Yameen's administration.
However, Muavviz declined to disclose further details as the investigations were still ongoing.
While ACC is currently probing another case against Yameen, the former president is also charged with money-laundering.
The state levied the charges against Yameen over the USD 1 million deposited to Yameen's savings account in Maldives Islamic Bank (MIB), via separate cheques from SOF. According to the state's charges, Yameen had transferred the amount to a General Investment account.
Yameen later agreed with ACC to transfer the amount to an escrow account in Bank of Maldives Ltd. However, the state accused that the funds Yameen transferred were not the USD 1 million originally deposited to his MIB account by SOF.
While the Criminal Court ordered to detain Yameen until the end of his trial last February, the High Court later overturned the ruling and ordered his release.
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