Al Jazeera unveils the secret of Pres.Yameen's wealth in Stealing Paradise!

On 7^th September 2016, we all were glued to Al Jazeera news . Its twitter updates were being followed sincerely and everyone was waiting for 'Stealing Paradise', a documentary by Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit. It showed that how the Maldives government "controls all the levels of state" and often uses them for nefarious purposes. Below are some highlights of the documentary.

• President's ministers and aides had plotted to launder up to $1.5bn through the South Asian nation's central bank, with the help of secretive businessmen from Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. They planned to fly in cash at up to $100m at a time, pass it through the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) and transfer it back out.

•  President Yameen, through his former deputy had siphoned off millions in state funds, hijacked state institutions and bribed state officials including judges, lawyers and parliamentarians to exert his authoritarian power over the whole country.

• Mohamed ‘Moho’ Latheef who ran the front company through which nearly USD80 million was siphoned off told Al Jazeera that president Yameen was aware of the whole scheme.“President Yameen will know me personally. I was there and I was managing some of their funds,” Latheef, who is among the eight suspects wanted in connection to the blast aboard the presidential speedboat last year. The whole system is corrupted," says Moho of the Maldives under President Yameen. "Since he came to power, he has been bribing the MPs, the judges, lawyers and everyone else.

• "Mohamed "Oittey" Hussain was Vice President Adeeb's driver. Older than the other "bros", he explains how Adeeb was his "childhood friend" from school and how they played football and later studied together in Sri Lanka.When he was tourism minister, Adeeb's official driver was unreliable, so he ended up asking Oittey to drive and deliver bags of cash as well."I have given money to the president," he added calmly.

• Sources and text message conversations reveal the Maldives judiciary is far from independent. Senior judges have received money and luxury flats and meet regularly with the president and his deputy, who meddle in high-profile cases and judicial appointments.

•  In one text message, the former prosecutor-general declares absolute loyalty to Vice President Ahmed Adeeb. The text messages show the president and his deputy spent six months working to save Judge Hameed from being debarred after he was embroiled in a sex scandal.

After the release of this documentary The police have raided the Maldives Independent office in Malé with a court warrant over an alleged coup plot. This could be the result of documentary 'Stealing Paradise', as it features an interview with Zaheena Rasheed, the editor of this publication, along with leading figures from the opposition and former members of watchdog bodies. The documentary has brought Pres.Yameen's real face as a corrupt and dictator in front of the world. Now we have to see that how will the president cope up with his drowning image as a President. Though one thing is for sure that Pres. Yameen or PPM is not coming back in 2018!