The High Court has vacated the money laundering conviction made by the Criminal Court against former President Abdullah Yameen in the sale of Vaavu Aarah and the subsequent 7-year jail sentence, freeing the former President.
The former President was convicted of money laundering and accepting bribes back in December of 22 and sentenced to 11 years in jail. His lawyers filed an appeal at the High Court to overturn the conviction and after months of legal wrangling, the High Court delivered its verdict on the appeal case today.
Earlier in the hearing, the High Court bench ruled to vacate the bribery conviction against the former President and hence the 4-year jail sentence against him.
In the second part of today's hearing, the High Court ruled to overturn the money laundering conviction against him and hence freeing the former President.
The High Court judges said the appeal against the Criminal Court judgment had revealed the errors made in the trial. The judges also noted that he was deprived of many of his trial rights and that the prosecution had failed to prove that the pillars of the offense mentioned in the indictment were met.
The judgment also ruled that the Criminal Court's decision to accept the new evidence submitted by the prosecution to reject Yameen's defense evidence was wrong. Such evidence can only be admitted in exceptional circumstances and the lower court did so without necessarily stating a reasonable cause.
