The Defence of former President Abdullah Yameen has expressed concern saying that rushing the trial against the former President over the sale of Raa Fuhggiri has hindered his appeal in the Vaa Aarashu case.
This comes after the former President sat through a 13-hour-long hearing of the Fuggiri case in which he has been accused of accepting bribes and money laundering. His co-conspirator in the case, Ahmed Crick Riza has been accused of facilitating bribes as well as money laundering.
Yesterday's hearing began around 9:00 am in the morning and went on till 10:00 pm in the night. In yesterday's hearing the court heard testimonies from former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb and former Managing Director of MMPRC Abdullah Ziyath.
The court had scheduled an additional hearing for this morning and another for tomorrow but the Defence had requested for a short respite.
Expressing concern over the prolongation of yesterday's hearing, former President Yameen said he had already told the court that his health does not allow him to sit in the hearings for so long.
He further highlighted that because yesterday's hearing had gone on for so long, his appeal hearing scheduled at the court for today had been canceled.
Yameen's defense also expressed concern over the delay in yesterday's hearing. The defense said that while the hearings for this case were scheduled for three consecutive days, they had other cases that needed to be attended. Defense counsel Ali Shah commented that this case did not warrant day and night hearings.
Though the Defense had requested for a respite for today's hearing, the Court decided to hold the hearing in two parts. The first part of the hearing is scheduled to start at 09:00 am and continue to 12:00 pm while the second part would be held from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm.
