Former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom was summoned to Police Headquarters on Sunday over ongoing investigations into alleged money laundering activities.
While Yameen arrived at the headquarters located in the capital city of Male’ via a private car, the area between Bank of Maldives (BML) and the Maldives Monetary Authority was closed for traffic.
A group of supporters arrived at the area in show of support for the former president.
Over MVR 100 million in Yameen’s bank accounts have been frozen in relation to the investigation, as the police have asserted that questionable deposits of large sums of money were made to these accounts during the past five years.
One of the issues involves USD 1 million deposited into the former president's Maldives Islamic Bank account, by SOF Pvt Ltd, in October 2015.
Government institutions were previously informed that the USD 1 million was handed over to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). However, it has since been revealed that the sum was transferred to an escrow account at BML, which is jointly registered under ACC and Yameen.
According to sources received by local media outlet Mihaaru, the letter sent to ACC by former legal affairs minister at the President’s Office, Azima Shukoor, confirming the transfer, also contained misinformation.
It has been reported that the money transferred to the escrow account belonged to former Minister of Tourism Moosa Zameer. The former tourism minister and Azima Shukoor were also summoned to the police in relation to this issue.
Therefore, the whereabouts of the USD 1 million deposited by SOF remain unaccounted for.
The remaining investigation involves a total of MVR 22.2 million deposited into Yameen’s bank account shortly before the 2018 presidential elections.
The Financial Investigation Unit (FIU) of MMA reported the matter to the police outlining the issue of two deposits, one amounting to MVR 10 million on September 5, and a further deposit of MVR 12.5 million on September 10, made to an account registered at MIB under Yameen’s name.
Yameen was first summoned to the police in connection to these investigations on December 15, 2018.
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