Sun seeks rejection of state's new 'ambiguous' evidence
Responding to Sun Investment's submission, the state said it does not see any legal impediment to submission of evidence contained in the documents.
By
Fathmath Ahmed Shareef
The trial of the charges against Sun Investments over charges of money laundering linked to the leasing of R. Fuggiri island through MMPRC began at the Criminal Court on Tuesday, with Sun company asking the court to reject the evidence presented by the state on grounds that the state was producing "unverified evidence” in court.
Former President Abdulla Yameen, Ahmed Krik Riza, Sun Construction and Sun Investment have been charged with bribery and money laundering in connection with the alleged irregularities in the lease deal to develop the island as a tourist resort through MMPRC.
Sun Investments is facing charges of money laundering.
On Tuesday, the court held a hearing to begin the trial as Sun Investment had denied the charges.
In his inaugural statement on behalf of Sun Investments, the company's counsel Ali Shah said:
-
The defence has denied the charges and has submitted two exhibits and 37 witnesses to defend itself against the charges
-
The state has not objected to the defence evidence at any stage
-
Sun Investments asked to summon the evidences and complete the trial at the earliest
Sun Investments, however, pointed out that while the case was going on in court, the state was submitting documents to the court "in a manner that is ambiguous" and it was brought to the notice of the court at the time that these documents were being submitted in violation of rules.
"... Since it is difficult to build a defence against these documents and the system has been structured so that we do not get the rights we deserve at the preliminary stage, the defence refuses to accept the documents and give them any status," Shah said.
Judge Ali Nadeem granted the opportunity to both the parties if they wanted to make any submissions during Tuesday’s hearing.
While the state pointed out that there was no submissions from the prosecution, Sun Investments sought that the evidence presented by the prosecution later should not be accepted.
Sun Investments demanded:
-
To reject evidence presented as evidence after the case was filed in the court and during the trial in the court
-
The evidence was not produced along with the charge sheet at the time of framing of charges
-
The evidence was not given the right to defense during the preliminary hearing
Responding to Sun Investment's submission, the state said it does not see any legal impediment to submission of evidence contained in the documents.
The state said:
-
Evidence first submitted by state after the case was filed in the court will also be mentioned in the inaugural statement
-
Apart from these documents, the documents mentioned are not presented as fresh evidence since the trial had commenced
-
The remaining evidence is a re-submission of the earlier shared documents because the writing was unclear
-
The remaining documents were re-filed on the directions of the trial court
-
Therefore, the state does not think that objections can be made at this stage in connection with the said documents
The next stage in the case will be the recording of statements of witnesses. The matter will come up for further hearing on Sunday. The day's hearing will include the deposition of prosecution witnesses.
Judge Ali Nadeem said he would also decide on Sun Investment's submissions during the hearing.
Case summary
In the indictments filed against the two Sun companies and Riza, the prosecution has alleged that a deal was made through MMPRC to lease out Fuggiri to Classic City Island Holdings Limited on September 9, 2015.
In connection with the transaction, the state has alleged that:
-
May 29, 2016 - USD 1.1 million of Yameen's bribe received through Riza was released to Sun Construction through a cheque of an account opened in the name of Riza at the Bank of Ceylon
-
May 31, 2016 – Pretending to be a dollar-laundering transaction, the cheque was deposited in an account opened in the name of Sun Construction in the State Bank of India
-
June 7, 2016 – The money was deposited as an in-house fund transfer to an account opened in the State Bank of India in the name of Sun Investment
-
June 7, 2016 – After raising an additional USD 1,000 for this money, a total of USD 1.18 million was deposited as an inter-company fund transfer in an account opened in Yameen's name with the Islamic Bank
