Ex-VP transferred to house arrest over health concerns

Maldives Correctional Service (MCS), on Tuesday, revealed that former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb was temporarily transferred to house arrest due to medical complications.

The Criminal Court sentenced the former Vice President to 20 years in prison with an MVR 2 million fine on Monday over his involvement in the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) scandal.

The state charged Adeeb, who was serving as the Minister of Tourism at the time, 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.

Adeeb entered a confessional agreement with the state to reduce his sentence, and assented to confess to the seven charges pressed against him over the MMPRC corruption scandal, which is believed to have cost the state MVR 4 billion in lost revenue.

Under the confessional agreement, the ex-VP faced four years and nine months of jail time for the first count of embezzlement while the second count of embezzlement carried a two-year and four-month sentence.

While his charge for exerting influence for illicit gains for another party resulted in a six-month sentence, Adeeb was incarcerated for another three months for abusing his official position. He also faced an additional month and 15 days in prison for exerting influence to earn illicit gains.

The two counts of money laundering carried sentences of five years and 11 months in addition to a fine of MVR 1 million each.

Although he was sentenced to 20 years, he will serve 19 years in jail as the duration he was held under state custody over the ongoing trial was reduced from his sentence.

In July, Prosecutor General (PG) Hussain Shameem declared that the documentary evidence against Adeeb was sufficient to charge the former vice president with over 150 separate charges that could land him over 800 years in prison, irrespective of the confessional statement.

Following the Criminal Court's verdict, several lawyers in the country have expressed concerns regarding the leniency of Adeeb's sentence, further raising the issue that the state could have potentially levied fines of up to MVR 5 billion and a minimum of MVR 1 billion under the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Act.