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PG withdraws Maabinhura appeal case against Adeeb

Prosecutor General's Office (PG Office) has retracted the appeal motion filed against former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb Abdul Ghafoor at the Supreme Court over the lease of Maabinhura in Lhaviyani Atoll.

The decision from PG Office came after the Chief Justice Dr Ahmed Abdulla Didi instructed to decide on whether to continue the appeal or withdraw the appeal motion. PG Office decided to appeal the case after High Court decided to overturn an eight-year prison sentence Adeeb received in 2016 for embezzling USD 5 million received as the acquisition cost to develop a resort in Maabinhura.

PG Office decided to drop the case as Adeeb has signed a plea bargain with the state confessing to seven charges that have been filed against him. The plea bargain states Adeeb gets a reduced sentence of 20 years in prison in exchange of confession to his crimes. The agreement states the appeal was not to be continued should Adeeb admits to accused crimes at the court.

The seven fresh charges against Adeeb include two money laundering charges, two influence peddling charges, two charges of embezzlement and a charge against him for abusing power.

Once the trials of the fresh charges against Adeeb started on Thursday, PG Office requested the court to revise its decision to disallow the hearing to be broadcast live as the case involves a significant sum of public money. His lawyer Mahfooz Saeed also iterated the defendant's request to broadcast the hearings live.

Judge Ismail Rasheed decided to make a decision after consultation with Criminal Court judges' Council.