State objects to request to adjourn Faris’ bribery trial

State prosecution has protested against the request made by Dhiggaru MP Ahmed Faris Maumoon’s attorney to adjourn his bribery trial.

During the pretrial hearing held this Thursday at the Criminal Court, Faris’ attorney made three requests; one of which was to adjourn the bribery trial until High Court makes its decision on appeal of three orders issued by the Criminal Court.

The three Criminal Court decisions appealed by Faris at the High Court are; the decision to jail Faris pending outcome of trial, the decision that the charge against Faris was valid, and the decision that the case can be tried as a civil case.

The State prosecutor protested that delaying the trial may result in difficulty summoning State witnesses, which could obstruct justice. She said the State prosecution therefore objected to the request.

The second request made by Faris’ attorney during Thursday’s pretrial hearing was for Criminal Court to order Prosecutor General’s Office to disclose the identities of the State witnesses and reveal all evidence which will be presented by the State.

The State prosecutor said the prosecution had submitted all documents of evidence it could through the court, but that the rest of the documents were not under the ownership of the State, and they could not therefore submit the rest of the documents.

Faris’ attorney then requested for a second opportunity to make pretrial submissions. The State prosecution objected to the request protesting that hearings of defendants jailed under Criminal Procedure Act needed to start by a specific time. She said Faris’ bribery trial needed to start by November 5.

Judge Ali Adam said that according to law, duration spent for pretrial submission were not considered when establishing the day the trial needed to start on. He said it was therefore not compulsory for the trial to start by November 5.

The defense will be making 22 pretrial submissions. Three of the submissions were made during Thursday’s pretrial hearing and six submissions were made during last Tuesday’s pretrial hearing.

Judge Ali Adam announced a pretrial hearing would be held at 10 am on November 5 to discuss additional pretrial submissions.