Charges filed against Bassam for money laundering and fraud

Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) has filed charges against former President of Football Association of Maldives (FAM) at the Criminal Court.

Bassam faces charges of money laundering and fraud surrounding the misappropriation of USD 10,000 from the funds granted to the association by FIFA and AFC.

The charges concerns Bassam's actions in transferring USD 10,000 from FAM accounts to his personal account and using it for his own purposes.

Speaking at a press conference held on Wednesday, Chief Inspector Yoosuf Looth said that their investigations have revealed that the amount of USD 10,000 was transferred from the association's account to that of one of their leaders, and was spent on private uses.

Chief Inspector Looth further revealed that multiple investigations are currently ongoing into several cases of corruption surrounding FAM.

"Investigations are also ongoing into the case of USD 1.9 million that was deposited into FAM accounts in relation to the Covid 19 pandemic. A large part of the investigation into this transaction is already completed," he said.

The PGO said today that Bassam, while serving as FAM's President, submitted documents to Bank of Ceylon and conducted the transfer of USD 10,000 in the bank's FAM account, which had been deposited by FIFA between July and August 2018, to his personal Bank of Maldives account on August 26, 2018. As the bank charges were deducted during the transaction, the amount deposited in Bassam's personal account was USD 9,999.

The PGO said that USD 1,910 from this was transferred to the account of another individual, and then to that of Glacier Investment - a company which Bassam and his wife Aiminath Maureena hold shares in. The money was then spent on various expenses of the company.

The charges also state that Bassam used the money to pay rent on a Rehendhi flat, and on various other expenses unrelated to FAM.

The State has requested the court to facilitate recovery of the USD 10,000.

The sentence for this crime may be a fine of between USD 10,000 and USD 1 million, together with a prison sentence of between 5 to 15 years.

PGO revealed that in conducting the transfer from Bank of Ceylon to Bank of Maldives, Bassam had framed the transaction as an act of selling dollars. However, he was charged on this matter as well as the funds have not been returned to FAM to date.

This offence carries a penalty of 1 year, 7 months and 6 days in jail.

Bassam has previously denied all allegations of corruption when speaking to media.

However, police are still continuing investigations, and the PGO has said to will be deciding on further legal action to take regarding future developments that exhibit wrongful behaviour.