Azima's hearing heats up over pre-trial submission dismissal

Monday’s hearing in the trial of former legal Affairs minister and Attorney General Aishath Azima Shakoor took a heated turn as Judge Ali Adam ruled that the current pre-trial submissions could not be allowed to be amended under the newly enacted Evidence Act.

Azima said she would appeal the judge's ruling.

The state has filed two charges against Azima:

According to the prosecution, Azima gave false information to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) about the USD 1 million deposited from former president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom's bank account in an escrow account. According to the chargesheet, Azim obtained a document in a particular manner in violation of the agreement of the escrow account, and used the document to hide the source of the money deposited in the escrow account.

The last hearing in the case was held in February. During the hearing, pre-trial submissions were made, while the remaining submission were to be presented at another hearing. 

Monday's hearing was held to present the remaining submissions on behalf of Azima in the pre-trial submissions.

When allowed to do so during the hearing, Azima said the Supreme Court has now laid down clear criteria to be followed while accepting individual evidence under the new Evidence Act, which came into force in April. Azima, therefore, requested that some of the earlier proposals be amended and allowed to be 'challenged' under the Evidence Act.

The state objected to the move and said that since it was a pre-existing matter of enactment of the Act, it could not be ruled out that the past proceedings should be allowed to be approved. In Yameen's appeal case, the Supreme Court had ruled that the law could not be enforced.

After several rounds of exchange of words between the two sides on the subject, Judge Ali Adam ruled that Azima's request could not be granted at this stage. He also said that even if it is related to the Evidence Act, the law cannot be implemented in that manner. Judge Adam, however, ruled that the evidence law could be invoked in the next stage of the trial.

Not satisfied with Judge Adam's decision, Azima’s defense repeatedly spoke on behalf of her. Azima and the judge also exchanged heated words for a long time over the judge's stand against the Evidence Act.

The judge, however, reiterated that the trial's verdict was very clear and urged people not to "drag on words". Last but not the least, Azima had sought a stay on the proceedings till a decision was taken as she wanted to challenge the judge's decision.

The judge, however, observed that it was not possible to do so as the case had been pending for a long time. Azima then requested that the hearing be concluded by Monday keeping in mind her health condition. He accepted it and concluded the hearing.

During the four-hour-long hearing, Azima did not submit any of the pre-trial submissions that were to be made on the day.