High Court judges panel decided that legal disputes had been raised that warranted further review. Therefore, the court will hear the appeal case.
The High Court has decided to proceed with hearing the appeal against the Criminal Court's decision to remand former Immigration Controller Mohamed Shamaan Waheed for 15 days over allegations of abuse of power.
Shamaan was dismissed from his position and arrested for allegedly colluding with immigration officers to extort over MVR 500,000 from an expatriate held in immigration custody.
His lawyer filed an appeal at the High Court on Wednesday after the Criminal Court ordered him to be remanded in custody for 15 days.
However, the Assistant Registrar of the High Court decided to dismiss the case based on the points submitted on Shamaan’s behalf.
The appeal was submitted to a High Court bench after the Registrar rejected the request. However, the three-judge panel ruled that the Registrar's decision was incorrect, noting that legal disputes had been raised that warranted further review. Therefore, the court will hear the appeal case.
While the initial 15 day remand period has since passed, Criminal Court ordered that Shamaan remain in custody pending trial.
Besides Shamaan, four other individuals have also been arrested in connection with the case, with the court extending their remand as well.
Police have also imposed travel bans on more individuals and seized Shamaan’s wife's phone as part of the investigation.
According to police, the expatriate was arrested at a guesthouse following an operation conducted by Immigration. After his release, immigration officers allegedly met him on the streets and collected a large sum of money before delivering it to Shamaan’s residence.
Police said that the operation in was not carried out by the designated task force assigned to inspect expatriated and locations associated with them.
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