JSC: Judge Faiz’s voice a match, but all three audios tampered with

Judicial Service Commission (JSC) states that the three audio clips which went viral in August - allegedly of three judges on the Criminal Court bench which convicted former Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom of money laundering in 2019 – were all tampered with – with parts of the clips deleted or made by mixing individuals clips. 

The audio clips had comments suggesting the trial was influenced.   

JSC announced in a statement that the commission received the findings of the forensic analysis of the audio clips from the police on Monday. 

JSC said the analysis confirmed that the voices on the audios do not match with the voices of Jude Ali Adam – who still serves at Criminal Court – and Judge Mohamed Sameer – who now serves at the Drug Court. 

The commission said that it has therefore found the allegations against the two judges to be false, and has cleared them of wrongdoing. 

Meanwhile, Judge Hussain Faiz Rashad’s voice came back a match. 

JSC said that though Faiz denies that it’s his voice on the clip, and though police found his audio clip, too, to have been tampered with, the forensic analysis confirmed the voice on the clip matched with his voice. 

JSC said it has therefore decided to open an inquiry into the case, and has selected a committee to conduct the inquiry. 

The commission said that it had taken note that the clip which matches with Judge Faiz’s voice does not explicitly state that anyone switched the judges in the trial, or asked for the judges in the trial to be switched, or that any effort was made to influence the trial. 

“However, this commission takes note that a lot of talk on a trial has made outside the court in the audio, and that the judge’s action enabled parties to take undue advantage and create and circulate audios leading to loss of public faith in other judges,” said JSC in its statement. 

The commission condemned the allegations made against the judges based on the fake audio clips. 

“Furthermore, this commission urges the media, when writing news about courts and judges, to verify that information comes from a credible source before publishing such information,” said the JSC in its statement.