Key Takeaway:
- Maldives’ president Abdulla Yameen was freed from house arrest on Tuesday after a top court overturned a money-laundering and embezzlement conviction, allowing him to make a return to politics potentially.
- He played a vital role in ousting the archipelago’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Nasheed.
Maldives’ president Abdulla Yameen was freed from house arrest on Tuesday after a top court overturned a money-laundering and embezzlement conviction, allowing him to make a return to politics potentially.
Yameen was sent to 5 years in jail and fined $5 million in 2019 for embezzling $1 million in state funds, allegedly acquired through the lease of resort development rights, and laundering the proceeds. Because of COVID-19, his jail term was shifted to house arrest.
After an appeal by Yameen, a three-member Supreme Court bench ruled on Tuesday there was insufficient evidence in the original case.
Two previous appeals at lower courts had been rejected.
After the verdict was announced, hundreds of Yameen’s Progressive Party of Maldives supporters gathered outside his residence in Male’s capital.
Also Read-Barcelona kills family of 4 by fire
The overturning of the verdict is a crucial moment in Maldives’ often-turbulent politics, as Yameen is now free to conduct political activities and even contest the next presidential election.
Yameen, who served as Maldives’ president from 2013 to 2018, is best known for drawing the country closer to China, invoking India traditionally.
He played a vital role in ousting the archipelago’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Nasheed, who fled into exile before returning in 2018 when Yameen unexpectedly lost power in a national election.
Source-CTV News
Get Canada and Yukon’s top News, Market News, and other News of USA and worldwide only on yukonweekly.com
