The opposition coalition has demanded that appropriate authorities conduct a probe into a reportedly leaked audio recording of a judge who presided over former President Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s money laundering trial in the Criminal Court.
The reportedly leaked audio tape was between Judge Hussain Faiz Rashad, a five-judge bench member who presided over Yameen’s Criminal Court hearing, and his acquaintance.
Faiz said on the leaked recording that a person can be held hostage in a variety of ways, adding that while the person himself may not be held hostage, his wife or a loved one may be, referring to the Criminal Court trial in which Yameen was found guilty by the five-judge bench.
Faiz is also heard criticizing political trials as “strange business” and claiming that being imprisoned wrongfully can only help Yameen’s popularity. He further stated that the former president was convicted of the crime not for a single cause, but for several, but he is unable to provide details.
The opposition coalition’s provisional head, Abdul Raheem Abdulla, said in a press conference discussing the leaked audio recording that the recording proves that the Criminal Court judgement against Yameen was delivered unlawfully and under government pressure.
He pointed out that the opposition had been calling the ruling unjust, and that it had finally been exposed by a judge who presided over the trial.
Yameen’s trial was originally scheduled to be heard by then-chief judge Ahmed Haleem, but he was suspended at the last minute, and the case was handed to a five-judge panel.
In addition to Faiz, the five judges on the bench were Judge Ali Rasheed Hussain, Judge Mohamed Sameer, Judge Ahmed Shakeel, and Judge Ali Adam. Ali Rasheed Hussain was later appointed to the Supreme Court bench on September 8, 2020.
On November 28, 2019, Yameen was found guilty of laundering USD 1 million from the sale of GA. Vodamula by the Criminal Court. He swiftly filed an appeal with the High Court, which upheld the original sentence on January 21, 2021.
The country’s highest court agreed to hear the former president’s appeal against his five-year prison sentence and a USD 5 million fine, which he filed in April.
The Supreme Court has scheduled the first hearing for the appeal case for September 12 at 9:00 a.m., followed by the second hearing on September 13.
