Former President Abdulla Yameen has requested the High Court of the Maldives to issue an order to halt the Fuhgiri trial until the end of the appeal hearings. The High Court is holding hearings over an appeal lodged by former President Yameen over the Criminal Court refusing to accept a number of evidence submitted in his defence.
At the latest hearing, Yameen’s defence team requested that the Fuhgiri trial be halted until the High Court concludes the appeal hearings. They added that the Criminal Court has scheduled a hearing on the Fuhgiri trial on April 4.
In response, the state attorney said that the Criminal Court has a policy of halting its hearings until the High Court concludes any relevant cases. As such, she said that the state has no objection to the High Court issuing an order to temporarily halt the Fuhgiri trial.
After hearing both sides, the High Court bench stated that the next appeal hearing will be the last. No decision was made on issuing a court order to temporarily halt the Fuhgiri trial.
In the Fuhgiri case, 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.