Former President Abdulla Yameen said last night that the two criminal cases still pending against him at court — both stemming from the MMPRC corruption scandal — have “collapsed” and are at the stage where the state has no choice but to withdraw them.
Speaking at a rally held by the People’s National Front (PNF), Yameen addressed the Fuggiri case, in which he is accused of accepting bribes and laundering money in connection with the lease of R. Fuggiri through MMPRC. He said the evidentiary phase of that case is now complete, and that all three witnesses presented by the state ended up giving testimony in his favour. As a result, he argued, the prosecution no longer has a case to argue, and the elements of the offence simply cannot be established.
Turning to the Aarah case — in which he faces similar bribery and money laundering charges over the lease of V. Aarah, and which the High Court has ordered to be retried — Yameen said the state is now trying to change earlier testimony that had gone in his favour. He noted that the Supreme Court has already ruled that such a move is not permissible. He added that he had previously asked the Prosecutor General to review the case, and although the PG refused, no reasoned justification for that refusal was ever provided.
“No matter how much they investigate, by the will of Allah they will not get anywhere with this. These are not real cases they are pursuing — they simply do not exist,” Yameen said.
Yameen argued that senior government figures are threatening him with prison because they know President Mohamed Muizzu cannot defeat him in a fair election. He pushed back at remarks made at recent ruling party (PNC) rallies suggesting that his freedom depends on the survival of the current government.
“No matter how much you try to weaken people’s resolve or plant doubt in their hearts — the stage for that has passed. The only window Adhurey and the others had was before the evidence was taken. Whatever they wanted to do, they should have done it then,” Yameen said, referring to Parliament Speaker Abdul Raheem Abdulla.
He also had a direct message for the President: “We are not shaken by any of this. Let Muizzu come and face me in the election. There is no need to be thinking about locking me up. [Former President Ibrahim Mohamed] Solih tried that too, listening to his soothsayers. Muizzu doesn’t need to be listening to Abdul Raheem either.”
Yameen’s lawyer, Mohamed Jameel Ahmed, told the rally that because the High Court has already overturned the earlier conviction in the Aarah case, that verdict is now entirely void. He said the Criminal Court must now decide the matter in line with the High Court’s guidance, after hearing further defence arguments from Yameen — and that on that basis, there is no legal or Sharia ground left on which a conviction could stand.
Jameel added that in the Fuggiri case, none of the other individuals charged has been convicted, meaning the underlying facts of the case cannot be established. On that basis, he said, Yameen cannot be convicted either.
Notably, Yameen is now the only remaining defendant in the long-running Fuggiri case. The Criminal Court has already acquitted two Sun Siyam companies charged in the matter, and the state withdrew its charges against Krik Ahmed Riza.
After a long pause, hearings in both the Aarah and Fuggiri cases have now been scheduled for later this month.
