Corruption charges against Minister Mahloof withdrawn

The Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) has decided to withdraw the corruption charges pressed against Minister of Youth, Sports, and Community Empowerment Ahmed Mahloof.

Mahloof was charged with accepting a bribe of USD 33,000 (MVR 506,715.00) from former Vice President Ahmed Adheeb to vote for the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) bill in parliament when he was a parliamentarian in the previous term.

Mihaaru news reported that the charges were withdrawn after PGO reviewed the case as it was and came to the realisation that they could not prove that Mahloof had received this money as a bribe. However, Mihaaru news said they were unable to obtain a comment from PGO regarding this matter.

This case had previously been dismissed by the Criminal Court after it was determined that there was no evidence to prove this money had been acquired as a bribe. They later accepted the case because the High Court had determined that the case was dismissed unfairly and had ordered them to revisit the case.

Minister Mahloof had voted for the SEZ Bill when he was a member of the current opposition Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM). Therefore, as he voted in line with the party's whip, it was argued that the money he received cannot be proven to be money he received to cast the vote for the SEZ Bill. Even though it can be proven Mahloof accepted the money and used it for personal purposes, it was previously questioned whether it could be proven he had received the money as a bribe.

The defence had earlier said that the money received was Mahloof's own and could not be linked to the manner in which it was used or the bribery.

Mahloof had previously been suspended from his position as the minister once, when the case was sent to the PGO to press charges against him. However, due to delays in the charges being filed, he was reinstated to his position. After the High Court ordered a re-investigation of the case, the trial began in the Criminal Court, but many hearings in the case were cancelled on the request of the state and for various reasons.