Former Chairperson of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Ali Waheed says that there were several people who had attempted to depict that President Abdullah Yameen did not know that the USD 1 million was deposited his Maldives Islamic Bank (MIB).

Speaking in the special program on RaajjeTV made on the issue following revelations made by Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Ali Waheed said the cash was deposited to the account with the knowledge of the MIB management.

The former chairperson and one-time parliamentarian said MIB management was in the know. He added an independent investigation into the matter had proven information gleaned from then Tourism Minister Ahmed Adeeb’s phone was accurate as well. The details of these, he said, will be revealed when President Yameen leaves office.

Ali Waheed said all must question how President Yameen acquired the funds. Additional details of this, he said, will be revealed by 2018 and thus addressed.

‘This is the reason why our passports have been cancelled and we’ve been effectively banished from the country. Glad that ACC had confirmed what I said then,’ he said.

Ali Waheed had been charged with terrorism and his trial was carried out in absentia.

In his interview, Waheed added that the dialogue between Hamid Ismail, then minister Adeeb, and President Yameen - before the former two were arrested - clearly showed President Yameen kept under a lot of pressure to recover the USD 1 million. He further added the details of these transactions will become clear in the near future, which was something he was looking forward to.

With the revelations from ACC lending credence to accusations against President Yameen, Ali Waheed said no amount of fabricated evidence can cover up culpability.

‘This happened during President Yameen’s tenure, with the institutions under his influence. Even still those institutions are saying the cash was deposited. President was clear on it, how the cash was acquired, how it was deposited. Those who deposited the cash are still alive. Those who collaborated within the bank are still alive. Then [Maldives Monetary Authority] MMA released a statement against us,’ he said.

Ali Waheed also said former MMA Governor was complicit in this. At the time of her departure, he said she had failed to investigate the case, both in MMA and in banks. He alleged that senior officials of Bank of Maldives had schemed as well, noting that they had attempted to squash the story.

Ali Waheed added a deposit as nominal as MVR 400,000, usually elicits a call from the bank to verify if this was an accurate transaction. Therefore, the transfer of a huge sum in question, while relevant bodies and banks remained silent, was collusion on the grandest scale.

Ali Waheed said he was glad that his statements had been proven right. He also said he hoped to see this case fully investigated and RaajjeTV compensated for the damages sustained due to the measures imposed for revealing the truth. This, he remarked, was the start of the attacks on RaajjeTV. In spite of this and all that had occurred since then, Ali Waheed said it was commendable the station had remained steadfast to unbiased reporting.

Ali Waheed in the interview lashed out at head of Maldives Broadcasting Commission (MBC) Mohamed Shaheeb. Describing Shaheeb and the Commission’s efforts to squash free media, Ali Waheed lamented that a veteran journalist such as Shaheeb had sunk to such levels.

Ali Waheed concluded by stating that in the short period between now and the Presidential elections of 2018, further startling revelations of this nature will come to forefront.