The former Managing Director of the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC), Abdulla Ziyath has testified as a witness for the prosecution against the former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom stating that the USD 1 million as rent from Vodumulaa went to SOF Company.

Testifying in the money laundering trial against President Abdulla Yameen, Ziyath revealed that he was acting under the orders of President Yameen during his tenure as the MD of MMPRC.

He stressed that President Yameen had instructed him to hand over payments received by MMPRC from the lease of islands and lagoons to then Tourism Minister Ahmed Adeeb.

He also added that the USD 1 million from Vodumulaa was handed over to Ishfaq from SOF, since Adeeb was out of the country during that time.

Ziyath stressed that the USD 1 million that was deposited to President Yameen’s account was the USD 1 million that MMPRC made through the rent of Vodumulaa.

He noted that President Yameen and Adeeb had instructed them to endorse checks that were payable to MMPRC and to deposit them to accounts of other companies. He also confessed that thy had continued to do so in violation of set rules and regulations.