Ahmed Nareesh, the Deputy Mayor of Male’ was summoned by the police in connection with a perjury case in regards to the money laundering and bribery case against former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayyoom.
As per the judgment of the Criminal Court in the case, it was mentioned that some of the witnesses produced by Yameen in his defense had perjured and that Nareesh was one of those witnesses.
The judgment states that Nareesh, who gave his testimony during the trial, provided false information in which he claimed to have visited Yameen’s residence in September 2015 at Yameen’s request and delivered money to another individual, Yoosuf Naeem, in the presence of the former president. It also claims that the witnesses produced by Yameen were done so by exploiting the criminal justice system, and that the discrepancies in their testimonies prove that false information was provided to the court. Additionally, the judgment also states that the witnesses were unable to specify the time and date when MVR 15 million was handed over to Yoosuf Naeem despite being able to recall other events of the day in great detail, which raises doubts about the validity of their testimonies. It is to be noted that the opposition PPM-PNC coalition denied the allegations that the witnesses provided false testimony. Perjury is a criminal offence, if proved guilty, the Deputy Mayor could face penalties such as fines or imprisonment.
