High Court has overturned Criminal Court’s verdict sentencing former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb to eight years in jail over graft charges.
The High Court on Thursday ordered the Criminal Court to conduct a retrial of the case.
Adeeb was sentenced to eight years in prison on graft charges after he was found guilty of corruption in the awarding of Lh. Maabinhuraa for resort development. The US$5 million graft involved Maldives Marketing and PR Company (MMPRC), with their former MD Abdulla Ziyath and businessman Hamid Ismail being implicated, and both receiving a 2-year jail sentence for the graft. The High Court maintained their verdict for Hamid and Ziyath, however, the sentence has now been fully served.
The verdict was given with the agreement of two out of three judges presiding over the bench; Chief judge Sujau Usman and Judge Hussain Shaheed.
In their ruling, the High Court referred to the controversial February 1 Supreme Court order, stating that the ruling and the terror charges that followed were politically motivated and violated the rights assured by the Maldivian constitution and criminal procedural laws.
While Judge Shuaib Zakariyya presiding over the bench was of the opinion that the Criminal Court’s verdict was correct, he noted that the evidence submitted by the State is enough to convict Adeeb. Further noting that the guilty conviction of Ziyath and Haamid were also maintained by the High Court, Shuaib stated that the lower court’s ruling convicting Adeeb should be maintained
While Criminal Court’s verdict sentencing the former VP to 10 years in jail on terrorism charges was overturned last week by the Supreme Court, the High Court also annulled the 15-year sentence handed to Adeeb over the explosion that occurred on the presidential speedboat ‘Finifenma’ in 2015.
Therefore, Thursday’s High Court verdict has freed Adeeb from all convictions against him. While a 15-day prison sentence is still outstanding for contempt of court, the 15-day sentence will be served from today as the procedures call for the longest sentences to be served first and there are no pending sentences with the exemption of the 15 day sentence.
While criminal Court ordered a retrial of the case relating to the explosion aboard Finifenma launch, Adeeb was remanded for 15 days in custody. As the 15 days have not yet expired, Adeeb currently remains under house arrest as per the Supreme Court's decision earlier this month.
