No escrow agreement of Yameen’s finances, ACC to pay: BML

Bank of Maldives (BML) on Monday said that former President Abdulla Yameen’s USD 1 million was not deposited to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC)’s bank account via an escrow agreement.

Following GA. Vodamula lease, the proceedings of it were transferred to ACC’s account on June 10, 2018 under an agreement made between the former president and the commission.

Despite the agreement’s particulars, and expiry of the 12-month period specified in it, the money deposited to the bank was repaid to Yameen, due to which he filed a lawsuit at the Civil Court in 2022 seeking to claim the money from BML citing escrow agreement violation.

During the response period, BML had objected to the court’s jurisdiction and noted the agreement was entered between Yameen and ACC, while the bank was never a party to it.

Following BML’s objection, Criminal Court on February 20^th decided not to accept the objection, and demanded the bank to respond.

After BML appealed the case at High Court, the bank’s advocate Moosa Farish Ahmed during Monday’s hearing said the civil court verdict and other documents hinted the existence of an escrow agreement, but there no such agreements were entered when Yameen transferred the money.

“An escrow agent is described as a neutral third party who holds assets or money, until a contractual condition is met,” Farish explained.

He argued such agreements are entered between three parties, which include the escrow agent as well, and are provided certain authorities and powers including the authority to transfer the money or assets it holds as per the agreement.

“However, this transaction does not fall within such an agreement. This is an agreement between Abdulla Yameen and ACC, and as per the agreement when the said contractual condition is met, the transfer of money back to Yameen is ACC’s liability,” Farish said.

He further said that the assets or money are held with the escrow agent’s account instead of the parties between the transaction is made, but in this case, Yameen had transferred the money to the account of which ACC is the sole beneficiary.

“Bank of Maldives does not have any authority to do with the money however it wishes,” Farish added.

As such, BML, had the High Court, requested to hold that it is not legally liable as the respondent in the case filed by Yameen and thereby remove it entirely from the case.