PG asks Supreme Court to accept new evidence against Yameen
Only the evidentiary part of the case has been appealed to the Supreme Court.
The prosecution has challenged in the Supreme Court part of the High Court's decision to overturn the Criminal Court’s conviction of former president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom in the bribery and money laundering charges found in the leasing of Vaavu atoll Aarah for tourism development.
At the trial of the Aarah lease case, defence evidence was presented to prove that the bribe money deposited in Yameen's account was a dollar-exchange transaction made between former MP Yusuf Naeem and Yameen. With that:
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The prosecution presented new evidence in the case to refute the defence evidence
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The Criminal Court accepted the prosecution's evidence
However, on appeal to the High Court, the High Court ruled that the Criminal Court had wrongly accepted the evidence submitted by the prosecution. Therefore, the High Court has asked the Criminal Court to re-examine Yameen's case without taking into account the evidence.
The prosecutor's office filed an appeal in the Supreme Court on Wednesday against the High Court's decision to exclude the evidence submitted by the prosecution.
According to a statement issued by the prosecutor's office on Sunday:
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The procedure adopted by the Criminal Court to accept the evidence in the case, which has been ordered to be re-examined by the High Court, can be amended while deciding the case again.
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The High Court's order to exclude the evidence contradicts earlier decisions of the Supreme Court
The prosecution has asked the Supreme Court to quash the High Court's decision to exclude the evidence. And in redetermining the case:
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In connection with the evidence submitted under Article 135 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the defence shall be given an opportunity to submit any submission
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Allow both parties to argue the evidence at trial
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Direct the lower court to re-decide on the admissibility of the evidence
Only the evidentiary part of the case has been appealed to the Supreme Court. The appeal will not change the High Court's decision to reconsider the case, the prosecution said.
Yameen was convicted of bribery and money laundering in the Aarah lease case and sentenced to 11 years in prison in December The appeal was filed in the High Court in March last year.
The lengthy High Court hearings also cost him his chance to contest last year's presidential election. Yameen was released on April 18 after the High Court hearings.
The Criminal Court has re-ruled the case and Yameen has been released from the 11 year prison sentence. However:
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The Raa atoll Fuggiri island’s trial in the MMPRC graft case is still pending in criminal court
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Yameen faces bribery and money laundering charges in the Fuggiri case as well
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These hearings have been stalled for almost a year now
