Judicial Service Commission, on Wednesday, announced an investigation into Criminal Court Judge Ismail Rasheed, after he moved to drop the charges against former vice president Ahmed Adeeb.
Filed by the Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem, JSC stated that a committee was compiled to probe into disciplinary issues of Judge Rasheed.
Allegations against the Judge, including corruption and political influence were also submitted to the parliament for investigation. However, the decision was scrutinized by the President of the Bar Council Maumoon Hameed, stating that parliamentary overreach would impede the role of the judicial watchdog.
If there exists basis for allegations of judicial misconduct, @MaldivesJSC must be permitted to investigate & reach its own conclusions.
— Maumoon Hameed (@maanhameed) July 15, 2020
If Parliament is seen to influence JSC to reach specific conclusions without proper investigation, it only undermines the JSC's independence.
During a press conference held Tuesday, Shameem criticized the Judge, stating that he had referred to documents that were not submitted to the investigation against Adeeb.
The Prosecutor General also announced that the Criminal Court's decision to drop all charges was now lodged at the High Court.
Noting that the Criminal Court's verdict was in violation of the Criminal Procedure Act, PG Shameem expressed his confidence that the High Court would accept the appeal.
The Criminal Court has also implemented a travel ban on Adeeb.
In July 2020, Adeeb entered a confessional agreement with the state over his charges. However, during the last hearing held at Criminal Court, Adeeb declared that he signed the agreement in order to attain permission to go abroad for medical treatment due to his sickness at the time of his incarceration.
During his last hearing, the Criminal Court decided that there was no room to pursue the charges against Adeeb, citing that the state had "wrongfully" entered a confessional agreement with Adeeb.
Adeeb, who was the Minister of Tourism during the MVR 1.3 billion graft of Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC), was charged with two counts of embezzlement, two counts of money laundering, as well as exerting influence for illicit gains, exerting influence to earn illicit gains for another party, and abusing his official position.
In 2016, during former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom's administration, Adeeb was sentenced to 33 years in jail over his involvement in the MMPRC graft, for orchestrating an assassination attempt on President Yameen, and weapons possession.
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