Former President Abdulla Yameen has been ordered to pay USD3.4 million to the state within six months.
The order issued by the Criminal Court of the Maldives states that former President Yameen had taken a bribe from the lease of Aarah, Vaavu Atoll, and deposited USD1 million to his account at HSBC, and a total of USD1.3 million at Bank of Maldives (BML) and Maldives Islamic Bank (MIB) in February 2017. He then took the amount and further funds from his investment account at MIB for investments in March 2021.
Therefore, the state requested the court to order the recovery of the USD1 million of the laundered money and a further USD2.4 million as well as the profits from former President Yameen's investments. The court ordered Yameen to pay USD3.4 million after citing his guilty verdict in the Aarah trial.
Former President Yameen recently appealed the 11-year prison sentence given for laundering and accepting bribes in relation to the lease of Aarah for resort development through Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC). Meanwhile, another case is ongoing at the Criminal Court where Yameen is charged with seeking a bribe of USD1.3 million to lease Fuhgiri to City Island Holdings Limited, which was facilitated by Ahmed Krik Riza. The state has accused Yameen of laundering USD1.1 million of the bribe through Sun Investment Private Limited and Sun Construction Engineering Private Limited.