Criminal Court has ordered to detain former President Abdullah Yameen Abdul Gayyoom the leader of PPM ; the only opposition party in the Maldives.
The former President was summoned to the court today for the first hearing of the money laundering charges against him. Speaking at the hearing, state lawyers claimed that the former president might tamper with evidence if he is free and requested the judge to detain him until the end of the trial.
Speaking at the hearing President Yameen said that the evidence against him are electronically generated bank statements and that there is no way he can tamper with them.
Chief Justice of the Criminal Court Ahmed Hailam did not consider any of the arguments presented by the defence lawyers of President Yameen and ordered to detain him until the end of the trial.
The former President has been detained during a time his party is in talks with the Jumhoory Party to form a coalition to contest in the upcoming parliamentary elections. Members of the public see his detention as a politically motivated move aiming to manipulate the results of the parliamentary elections.
