Criminal Court, on Thursday, has acquitted former Maldive Gas managing director Abdulla Maumoon (Maanu) who is currently serving 12 years in prison on bribery charges, on the remaining five counts of bribery he has been charged with.
Maumoon had helmed the state-owned Maldive Gas during former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s administration.
In 2024, the state charged Maumoon with seven counts of bribery over money deposits between 2016 and 2017 linked to a supplier that was made to bank accounts registered to him, his companies and family members.
On September 29th of last year, the Criminal Court found Maumoon guilty of two counts of bribery, and sentenced him to 12 years, nine months and 18 days in prison.
However, on Thursday, Criminal Court acquitted Maumoon on the remaining five counts of bribery.
Notably, Maumoon has already appealed his earlier conviction with the High Court. Meanwhile, the Prosecutor General’s Office has expressed its intention to appeal the acquittal of Maumoon on the five counts of bribery.
In this regard, the prosecution said it believes Maumoon was acquitted without proper consideration of the evidence it presented, which it emphasized amounts to a breach of judicial and legal rules.
Maumoon had fled the Maldives after the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) began investigating him for corruption soon after the end of Yameen’s administration. But he returned to Male’ last year, and had a travel ban imposed on him to prevent him from leaving the country as he stood trial for bribery.