Former Legal Affairs Minister at President's Office Aishath Azima Shakoor has said the state cannot press charges against her as the charges are in conflictions with Prosecutor General Aishath Bisham.
Azima is charged with providing false information to government authorities and being an accomplice to money laundering. Money laundering charges are raised for flouting the agreement made with Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to keep the USD 1 million alleged to be laundered in an escrow account set up between former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom and ACC. However, the state revealed money laundered from MMPRC was deposited to bank account opened under the name of the former president at Maldives Islamic Bank (MIB).
Meanwhile, charges of providing false information to authorities were raised due to providing ACC with misinformation that the aforementioned funds were deposited to the agreed escrow account. The Criminal Court held a preliminary hearing where Azima mentioned Bisham held the position of Legal Affairs Secretary at the President's Office, adding some events noted by the prosecution took place before she assumed the position of the Prosecutor General. Therefore, the case is in conflictions with the prosecutor general, said Azima.
However, dismissing Azima's comments, the state prosecution stated Bisham had no hand in the case and every transaction was made by Azima. The state also submitted witnesses against Azima including former President Yameen, former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb, former President of ACC Hassan Luthufee, current President of ACC Muavviz Rasheed and former Managing Director of Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) Abdulla Ziyath.
The preliminary hearing was concluded by granting the defendants 10 days to submit documents.