The Criminal Court of the Maldives has banned former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb from travelling abroad by issuing an order to withhold his passport, following the appeal by the Prosecutor General’s Office (PG Office) against the rejection of the charges pressed against Adeeb.
On July 14, the Criminal Court rejected the charges pressed by the state against Adeeb, freeing him from detention. Maldives Police Service (MPS) stated it had requested for a court order to ban Adeeb from travelling abroad as the PG Office has appealed the case at the High Court of the Maldives.
On July 27, 2019, Adeeb tried to flee the country on a tugboat while his passport was withheld by the police as per an order from the Supreme Court of the Maldives. Adeeb has also served the sentence of 3 months and 18 days, which was imposed for his attempt to flee the country while his passport was withheld. The sentence was completed on January 3, 2020.
The PG Office pressed 7 charges against Adeeb, including two charges for participating in embezzlement of state funds, two charges for money laundering, two charges for influence peddling and one charge for illicit use of an official position. At the preliminary hearing of the trial, Criminal Court Judge Ismail Rasheed rejected the charges citing the lack of sufficient credible evidence against Adeeb, as the charges are largely dependent on confession agreements signed between the defendant and the PG Office, which holds no validity in court.
Adeeb had previously been sentenced to 33 years in prison over charges of corruption and terrorism. However, the sentences were later overturned by the Supreme Court as the charges were pressed through an investigation filled with political influence and violated the international conventions signed by the Maldives.
Speaking at a press conference, Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem said sufficient evidence has been collected for over 150 charges against Adeeb for his role in the embezzlement of state funds through Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC). Noting none of the charges would require a confession statement from Adeeb for it to be proved in court, Shameem said the evidence collected against the former vice president is enough to hand him a prison sentence of 806 years. However, Shameem said the state will only press all the charges if Adeeb refuses to go ahead as per the agreement made between him and the PG Office to cooperate with the investigation and plead guilty for 7 charges.