PG office says Sun Companies’ Fuggiri acquittal not appealed due to lack of legal grounds

The Prosecutor General’s Office has said it decided not to appeal the acquittal of Sun Construction and Engineering and Sun Investment in the R. Fuggiri money laundering case because it found no legal grounds that could change the outcome of the Criminal Court’s ruling.

The Criminal Court ruled in September 2025 that the money laundering charges against the two companies had not been proven.

The charges were filed in connection with alleged corruption in the lease of R. Fuggiri for resort development. The case also involves former President Abdulla Yameen, who faces separate bribery and money laundering charges.

The deadline to appeal the acquittal of the two Sun companies expired without the Prosecutor General’s Office filing a case at the High Court. More than a year after the Criminal Court ruling, the office had not previously publicly explained why it decided against an appeal.

Responding to a Right to Information request from Dhauru seeking the reason for the decision, the Prosecutor General’s Office said on Tuesday that it did not believe an appeal could produce a different outcome.

“The office decided not to appeal the case referred to in the letter to the High Court of the Maldives because it did not find legal grounds on which an appeal could change the outcome of the lower court’s decision,” the office said.

Sun Construction and Sun Investment are linked to Maldives Development Alliance leader and Meedhoo MP Ahmed Siyam Mohamed.

The proceedings against the two companies and Yameen were initially conducted together before the Criminal Court later separated Yameen’s case from those involving the companies.

Hearings in the case against the two Sun companies concluded in June 2025. However, the court’s public schedule did not show a hearing for delivery of the verdict. The Criminal Court and Prosecutor General’s Office subsequently confirmed that a ruling had been issued.

A senior Criminal Court official said at the time that the absence of the hearing from the public schedule was believed to have resulted from an administrative error and that no hearing in the case had been held in secret.

The state had also charged Ahmed “Krik” Riza with facilitating bribery and money laundering in connection with the Fuggiri case. Those charges were later withdrawn, with the prosecution citing delays in holding hearings.

Yameen’s case is now the only part of the Fuggiri matter that remains before the Criminal Court. He is accused of accepting a bribe in connection with the lease of the island through the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation and laundering part of the alleged proceeds. He has denied the charges.

A hearing in Yameen’s Fuggiri case had been scheduled for 23 September after a lengthy break in proceedings, but was cancelled at the prosecution’s request after a state prosecutor had to travel abroad for health-related reasons.