The High Court has scheduled a preliminary hearing for tomorrow regarding the freezing of former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s accounts.

The hearing is scheduled for 10:00 am tomorrow. The first preliminary hearing in the case was held on 14 February 2019, behind closed doors.

Should tomorrow’s preliminary hearing get through all necessary points of the case, the next hearing at court would be the official conclusive hearing.

While the Criminal Court had ruled to freeze the former President's Bank of Maldives (BML) accounts, President Yameen’s attorneys had appealed the dismissal of the case at High Court on 24 December 2018.

All of President Yameen’s bank accounts had been frozen under three different Criminal Court orders. The Criminal Court had proceeded to impose all of these orders upon the appeal of the Maldives Police Service.

Upon a different sentence from the Criminal Court concerning charges of money laundering,  President Yameen’s legal team had also appealed the dismissal of this case at High Court. The Criminal Court had ordered the detention of President Yameen for the remainder of his trial and he was transferred to Maafushi prison on 18 February 2019. This detention had been ordered under an appeal from the Prosecutor General’s Office. State lawyers had argued during the Criminal Court hearing that he had attempted to influence witness testimony through bribery and other means.

The High Court had accepted the case concerning President Yameen's detention on 21 February 2019.