The jail sentence of 3 months and 18 days of former Vice President Ahmed Adheeb will come to an end tonight (Friday night) who was imprisoned by the Criminal Court for fleeing to India.
Adheeb’s lawyer Mahfooz Saeed said that his jail term would come to an end by 00:00 hrs tonight. However, Adheeb will not be free due to recent prosecutions against him.
In the case of fleeing, Adheep was accused of preventing the execution of the law. Adheeb has admitted to the accusation. Adheeb said that he fled to seek asylum upon receiving life-threatening warnings and that he admits to his offense and that he had given a statement to the Police admitting his crime. He further said that he will not repeat such an offense and that he apologises for it.
Once Adheeb admitted to his offense the judge provided the opportunity for both parties to come to terms regarding his punishment. In that regard, the government suggested to bring one level down his sentence and jail him to 3 months and 18 days for which Adheeb also agreed.
Adheeb served his sentence while being under house arrest due to his health condition. While he was under house arrest, seven accusations were made against him. The Criminal Court has ordered to keep him on remand until the prosecution is over regarding the allegations that were made.
The seven accusations were also made on the issues of corruption and money laundering in MMPRC between 2014 to 2015.
The prosecutions were made upon an investigation that was carried on by the Asset Recover Commission, Anti-Corruption Commission and Police after which the case was sent to Prosecutor General’s Office for Prosecution.
Adheeb has admitted to the seven accusations made against him during the investigations. He has signed the agreement admitting the accusations made against him on the MMPRC Corruption issue as per the Criminal Procedure Act.
When asked if they will appeal against the Criminal Court’s order to keep him on remand until the trial is over, the lawyer said that they do not intend to do so.
Adheeb has requested the Criminal Court to Live the trial of his case.
However, Judge Ismail Rasheed, who investigates his case has rejected his request, after that there were no proceedings of the case thus far.
Ten accusations were made against Adheeb previously on the investigations that the Police carried on regarding the MMPRC case. However, the allegations were not admissible to the Criminal Court. The Anti-Corruption Commission also investigated the case of MMPRC.
Thus far, Adheeb is found guilty of only one issue of MMPRC’s Corruption. That is the case of Maabin Hura island. Conversely, the High Court has ordered the Criminal Court to reinvestigate the case and the government has appealed to the Supreme Court against the High Court’s order. Nevertheless, the Prosecutor General's Office has taken back the case as per their agreement with Adheeb.
Former VP Ahmed Adheeb
