The Maldives authorities on Tuesday arrested former Maldives President Abdullah Yameen after he has been accused of bribing some witnesses in his money laundering trial, the Maldivian officials have reported.
According to TOI news reports, Yameen’s detention comes after a Criminal Court began a hearing into the allegations levelled against Yameen that he had received nearly about $1.5 million in illicit payments just ahead when he lost an election in last year’s September and was then forced out of the power.
A court official has said, “Prosecutors said that Yameen had allegedly attempted to bribe witnesses,” further adding that the country’s former president would be next held at the prison, Dhoonidhoo, island near to the capital.
And if Yameen gets convicted then he could face up to 15 years in prison and also be fined with three times the amount of the fraud involved.
Yameen, who came into power in 2013 and has forced many of his opponents into exile or jailed them, was summoned to a Criminal Court on Sunday in order to formally receive his indictment.
The court further scheduled a hearing after the prosecutors told the judge, Ahmed Hailam, that the former president was attempting to intervene into witnesses.
The court already has frozen Yameen’s local bank accounts holding around $6.5 million. An anti-corruption body has last week, came up with the report stating that during Yameen’s tenure, around $79 million has been embezzled from public relations corporation and state-run Maldives media.
The arrest of him came a day after chief lawyer and former justice minister Azima Shakoor were charged with embezzlement and harbouring her boss to launder money.