Police in Maldives summons ex-president over money laundering case

Police in the Maldives have summoned former president Abdulla Yameen for questioning as part of investigations into deals he made during his tenure, many of them involving Chinese infrastructure projects, his party said.

Opposition Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) secretary general Mohamed Hussain Shareef said the former president has been summoned to the police headquarters at 2 pm on Saturday.

“The service is investigating reports forwarded by state institutions that allege former president Abdulla Yameen conducted illicit financial transactions while he was president,” police said in a statement late on Thursday.

Yameen has denied any wrongdoing and said that he took on loans to accelerate economic development.

Yameen lost the September 23 election by a margin of 16 percent to opposition alliance candidate, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, in an outcome hailed as a win for democracy in the crisis-hit archipelago.

Yameen has also been linked to the biggest corruption scandal in the country's history.

Yameen's former vice president Ahmed Adheeb Abdul Ghafoor who had been jailed over the scandal has repeatedly accused the president of sanctioning the embezzlement of millions of dollars from the state coffers.

Critics have alleged that contracts were given to Chinese companies at inflated prices, such as a bridge connecting the capital Male to the main airport of the palm-fringed islands famous for their luxury diving resorts.

The Maldives has become the latest battleground for influence between old rivals India and China.

Yameen steered the country of just over 400,000 people closer to China, away from traditional partner India.

But since Yameen’s surprise election defeat, India has been re-exerting its influence.

On Monday, new president Solih will travel to India on his first overseas visit since taking over as president last month.