Prosecutor General's Office (PG Office) has requested Criminal Court to allow the prosecution to present new evidence on the 29 charges filed against former Managing Director of Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) Abdulla Ziyath.
Over 30 charges have been raised against Ziyath in the largest corruption scandal of the country, and 29 of those probes are adjudicated together.
At a hearing at the Criminal Court on Thursday, the state prosecutor said new evidence have been found against Ziyath. The prosecutor further said the PG office is still trying to get the statements from Isfah Ali and Mohamed Allam, the two leading figures of SOF Private Limited, for the significant amounts deposited to their accounts from the embezzled funds of MMPRC. The prosecutor also requested for a change to present forensic evidence.
The judge concluded to make a decision on accepting the new evidence at the next hearing.
The defence said the new witnesses presented by the PG were declared accomplices by the police. The defence lawyer also questioned whether their testimonies can be accepted by the court since they have been accused accomplices in the scandal. Ziyath's lawyer also requested the court to provide him with a document submitted at a hearing against him on another charge which the court requested to provide to him.
The court also requested to compromise the identity of a secret witness and take his witness in court as there is currently no need to keep the identity anonymous. Other secret witnesses will also be considered to see if there is a need to keep their identity anonymous.
Based on the points highlighted by the prosecution, the court decided to provide Ziyath with the statements previously given by secret witnesses.
Ziyath was first charged for corruption in 2017. After a long period without a hearing, the judge said the hearing has been delayed as PG Office wanted more time to evaluate the case due to difficulties in presenting witnesses it had listed to the court.