High Court has reversed its earlier decision to reject the case against former Vice President Abdulla Jihad, now accepting the case.
High Court has reversed its earlier decision to reject the case against former Vice President Abdulla Jihad, now accepting the case.
Jihad, who is currently Chairperson of the Maldives International Financial Service Authority (MIFSA), faced charges related to the signing of the Fushidhiggaru Falhu agreement in 2013, when he was the Minister of Finance. The charges were for entering into a joint venture agreement with a foreign company to develop Fushidhiggaru Falhu, which granted the government only a 25 percent stake, against the Maldives government's advice.
The Criminal Court ruled earlier that the case could not proceed due to mistakes made during the investigation.
The Prosecutor General's Office then appealed the case at the High Court claiming that the Criminal Court’s decision lacked a clear basis and did not provide adequate reasoning. The prosecution requested that the High Court order a retrial of the case in the lower court.
This case at the High Court was previously dismissed because the court could not summon Jihad due to his address being unclear. The issue arose when Jihad was not found at the address provided to the court by the Prosecutor General's Office.
As a result, High Court allowed the Prosecutor General's Office to resubmit the case once Jihad's address was confirmed and he could be summoned. The prosecution filed the case again on October 15. However, the High Court registrar decided not to accept the case as the deadline for resubmission had expired on October 12. The High Court upheld the registrar's decision and decided not to accept the case.
However, last Thursday, a three judge bench of the High Court ruled that the case can be accepted. This was decided based on the State's statement that the delay in resubmitting the case had been due to not having been able to summon Jihad to court as he had travelled abroad in the previously allowed period.
As this was deemed an unavoidable circumstance, the court decided to accept the case.
While the High Court has made this decision, the State has earlier appealed the Court's decision to reject the case at the Supreme Court.
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