2 police forensic examiners testify in Yameen's Fuggiri graft trial
The court is currently hearing the testimony of prosecution witnesses. After two witnesses testified on Monday, two more witnesses testified on Tuesday.
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By
Fathmath Ahmed Shareef
A police examiner who analysed the laptop seized from the residence of former MMPRC Managing Director Abdulla Ziyath in 2015 and prepared the forensic report, as well as the examiner who prepared the mobile phone analysis report testified in the Criminal Court on Tuesday in the trial of former President Abdulla Yameen and the co-accused over the leasing of R. Fuggiri island as part of the MMPRC corruption scandal.
The prosecution has charged four persons with alleged fraud in the lease of R. Fuggiri for development as a tourist resort:
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Former President Abdullah Yameen - bribery and money laundering
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Ahmed Krik Riza - being an intermediary in taking bribes and money laundering
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Sun Construction - money laundering
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Sun Investment - money laundering
The court is currently hearing the testimony of prosecution witnesses. After two witnesses testified on Monday, two more witnesses testified on Tuesday.
The first testimony on Tuesday was given by the police digital evidence examiner who prepared the computer forensic report. The witness, who has been in the job since 2010, testified that he has conducted more than 3,000 analysis and prepared more than 1,200 reports.
He said the investigation officer had asked him to focus on the transactions made by the phone numbers involved in the case and to search for "chat conversations". The laptop was seized by the police on October 14, 2015, during a raid on Ziyath's residence.
According to the witness:
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The analysis report was prepared on the chat logs exchanged from the mobile numbers requested by the investigation officer; It is a file from a Viber group
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The Viber group was created on February 2, 2015, and data has been added to it on various dates since then
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The last data added is on September 8, 2015
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The data has not been deleted or modified
Defence questions to the witness were mainly directed to establish the authenticity of what was in the analysis report and to clarify how it could be authenticated. They also asked whether the state had made any changes to the report.
Since the witness was handed the laptop for analysis more than three years after it was taken into police custody, the defence questioned the witness about the authenticity of the data contained on the laptop. In response, the witness said that he had checked before starting the data collection to see if there was any modification made to the data as it had been so long in police custody. The witness said that on examination, it was not found that any such change had been made.
Tuesday’s proceeding also heard the testimony of a digital evidence examiner working in the Digital Evidence Laboratory of the Police Forensic Service. He was the policeman who prepared the mobile forensic report.
He said:
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He started working as a digital evidence examiner in 2016
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So far, about 1,500 pieces of evidence have been analysed and about 1,500 reports have been prepared by him
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The report was prepared for analysis of transactions made from a telephone number requested by the investigator; No details are available
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The analysis found call logs, Viber chat logs and SMS
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Encrypted files were found on a pen drive and software used to decrypt them
Tuesday’s hearing was scheduled to continue until 3 pm. The defence did not question the second witness after the prosecution's questions had been answered.
The judge decided to give the defence the opportunity to question the witness at Wednesday’s hearing. Another prosecution witness who did not testify at Tuesday’s hearing will also testify on Wednesday.
Four people were scheduled to testify in the case on Monday, but only two witnesses testified in the 13-hour hearing. They are Ziyath and former tourism minister and vice president Ahmed Adeeb.
