Criminal Court of the Maldives has sentenced former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb to 20 years in prison, after he pleaded guilty to the charges pressed against him in relation to the corruption scandal of Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC).
The Prosecutor General’s 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. Adeeb pleaded guilty to all charges in accordance to the confession agreement made between him and the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Criminal Court issued separate sentences for each of the seven charges. As such, Adeeb was handed a sentence of 5 years and 11 months, along with a fine of USD 65,000, for each of the two money laundering charges pressed against him. Meanwhile, he was given two sentences of 4 years and 2 years respectively for the two embezzlement charges.
Furthermore, Adeeb was handed a six-month sentence and a one-month sentence for the two charges involving influence-peddling. He was also sentenced to a further 3 months in prison for illicit use of an official position. In total, Adeeb has been sentenced to 20 years in prison and fined USD 130,000.
During the first hearing of the trial, Adeeb said he decided to cooperate with the state in order to facilitate the return of funds which were embezzled through MMPRC. He noted the vital information regarding the MMPRC corruption scandal will not be available unless he discloses the details.
In a press conference held in July, Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem said sufficient evidence had been collected for over 150 charges against Adeeb for his role in the embezzlement of state funds through MMPRC, which would be enough to hand him a prison sentence of 806 years. However, Shameem said the PG Office would only press all 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.
Former Vice President Adeeb had previously been sentenced to 33 years in prison, after being convicted of terrorism and corruption charges. The sentences were later overturned by the Supreme Court of the Maldives, after ruling the investigation was carried out under political influence, violating the international conventions signed by the Maldives.
Adeeb has also served a sentence of 3 months and 18 days, which was imposed for his attempt to flee the country while his passport was seized under the orders of the Supreme Court. The sentence was completed on January 3, 2020.