Male' Deputy Mayor Nareesh summoned to police over perjury case

Male’ Deputy Mayor Ahmed Nareesh was summoned to police on Monday night with respect to the Criminal Court’s judgment in the money laundering and bribery case against opposition leader, former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayyoom which states he had perjured in his testimony.

Nareesh was briefed regarding the charges he is suspected of.

Criminal Court’s judgment in Yameen’s money laundering and bribery trial in connection to the sale of V. Aarah for resort development read that some witnesses produced by Yameen in his defense had perjured. One such witness, as per the judgment, is Nareesh.

In a hearing during the course of the trial, Nareesh gave his testimony where he claimed to have visited Yameen’s resident G. Dhoovehi in September 2015 at Yameen’s request.

He detailed before he took money to Yoosuf Naeem, accompanied by an individual who was working as a driver for Yameen, after counting the notes in front of the former president at Dhoovehi.

The judgment publicized by Criminal Court on Monday read that the witnesses produced by Yameen were done so by exploiting the criminal justice system.

It further stated that the discrepancies in the testimonies of the witnesses prove that false information was provided to the court.

The judgment also stated that the witnesses were unable to specify the time and date MVR 15 million was handed over to Yoosuf Naeem despite being able to recall other events of the day to the tiniest details.

“Ahmed Nareesh could specify where he sat in the car, where Abdulla Rasheed sat in the car and where the money was stored inside the car without any difficulties. Giving the answers right away upon being questioned on such small details, yet, being unable to specify which time of the day the transaction occurred was astonishing in the perspective of a reasonable mind,” the judgment read. 

When Police announced that they were investigating the perjury – the opposition PPM-PNC coalition denied the allegations.

PNC’s leader Abdul Raheem Abdulla (Adhurey), in an earlier statement, said that Yameen had not fabricated evidence – also claiming he was sentenced without weighing on the evidence.