Maldives ex-president Abdulla Yameen gets 5 years jail for money laundering

Agencies

November 28, 2019

Male, Nov 28: Former Maldives President Abdulla Yameen was sentenced to five years of imprisonment in a money laundering case on Thursday.

A five bench panel of a court in Maldives also odered Yameen to pay a USD 5 million fine in the case.

The court ruling found the 60-year old guilty of laundering over USD 1 million of state money for personal gain, Maldives Independent reported.

The panel ruled that Yameen invested the money despite reasonable grounds to suspect that it was ill-gotten and violated an agreement signed with the Anti-Corruption Commission to hold the USD1 million in an escrow account.

The new bench has announced the verdict after Judge Ahmed Halin was suspended hours before he was to announce the verdict on November 5.

Yameen's supporters including former ministers and lawmakers protested outside the criminal court during the hearing. They have accused the government of "hijacking" the judiciary.

Yesterday, Yameen warned supporters to beware of "vultures" who might take over the opposition coalition if he is sent to prison.

"If I am not here, don't let vultures straddle my party. That's not something that should be allowed at all," he appealed.

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AstraZeneca to withdraw Covid-19 vaccine globally as demand dips after admitting side effects

News Network

May 8,2024

AstraZeneca said on Tuesday it had initiated the worldwide withdrawal of its COVID-19 vaccine due to a "surplus of available updated vaccines" since the pandemic.

The company also said it would proceed to withdraw the vaccine Vaxzevria's marketing authorizations within Europe.

"As multiple, variant Covid-19 vaccines have since been developed there is a surplus of available updated vaccines," the company said, adding that this had led to a decline in demand for Vaxzevria, which is no longer being manufactured or supplied.

According to media reports, the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker has previously admitted in court documents that the vaccine causes side-effects such as blood clots and low blood platelet counts.

The firm's application to withdraw the vaccine was made on March 5 and came into effect on May 7, according to the Telegraph, which first reported the development.

London-listed AstraZeneca began moving into respiratory syncytial virus vaccines and obesity drugs through several deals last year after a slowdown in growth as COVID-19 medicine sales declined.

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