Maldives police question ex-strongman after accounts frozen

Police in the Maldives say they have questioned the country’s defeated former strongman president over complaints of alleged illegal financial transactions a day after they froze bank accounts with millions of dollars.

Police said in a statement Saturday that they found transactions of big sums of money through accounts opened by Yameen Abdul Gayoom over five years of his presidency. On Friday, they said accounts with nearly $6.5 million had been frozen pending further investigations.

Speaking to reporters after the questioning, Yameen said police did not accuse him of any crime. He said police questioned him over cash received ahead of the September presidential election and complaints that $1 million linked to a financial scam allegedly were found in his account.

Yameen lost the election to Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.