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New Delhi: The Maldives criminal court on Sunday sentenced former president Abdulla Yameen to 11 years in jail and fined him $5 million after he was found guilty of money laundering and accepting bribes, news agency AP reported.
According to the report, the court found Yameen guilty of accepting money for leasing an island owned by the government.
The court gave the former leader a seven-year sentence for money laundering and four years for accepting a bribe.
Notably, he ruled the Indian ocean archipelago nation, known as an exclusive tourist destination, from 2013 to 2018.
He lost power in 2018. However, he has been declared the presidential candidate for the Progressive Party of the Maldives for an election due in 2023.
This was not the first time Yameen has been charged with corruption.
In a separate case in 2019, he was found guilty of money laundering and sentenced to five years in prison and fined $5 million for embezzling $1 million in state funds, which, according to the prosecution, was acquired through the lease of resort development rights.
However, two years later, the Supreme Court overturned the verdict, and said that the evidence at the initial trial contained discrepancies and did not conclusively prove that Abdullah Yameen had laundered $1 million in state money for personal gain.
Since his release, Yameen, the half-brother of former dictator Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, has returned to active politics with a campaign against Indian influence in Maldives.
It is to be noted that Yemen lost a re-election bid in 2018 to current President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
During his time in office, he has been accused of corruption, muzzling the media and persecuting political opponents.
Notably, located close to strategic shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean, Maldives is a focal point for competition between India and China over the influence in the region.
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