Published on: December 1, 2021 at 21: 34 IST
The Maldives’ Top Court on Tuesday rejected former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s prison term for money laundering.
A three-member Supreme Court Bench unanimously overturned Yameen’s five-year prison sentence and $5 million fine imposed by a Lower Court two years ago.
The former dictator was recently placed under house arrest.
The Judges concluded that the evidence presented at the first trial had inconsistencies and did not prove conclusively that Yameen had laundered $1 million in state funds for personal gain.
From 2013 until 2018, Yameen controlled Maldives, an Indian Ocean archipelago state known for being an expensive tourist destination, before losing re-election to current President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
During his term in power, he was accused of corruption and suffocating opposition and the media. Other corruption cases against him are still ongoing in the Courts.