High Court has rejected an appeal submitted by the State regarding Criminal Court's decision that it cannot look into a case against former Vice President Abdulla Jihad.
High Court has rejected an appeal submitted by the State regarding Criminal Court's decision that it cannot look into a case against former Vice President Abdulla Jihad.
The reason for the rejection is cited as Jihad's current address being unclear. When court officials went to the address listed as Jihad's address by the Prosecutor General's Office, they were informed that Jihad does not live at that residence.
Hence, the High Court rejected the case last week, stating that the Prosecutor General's Office has the prerogative to resubmit the case after clarifying the address.
Jihad 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.
Despite accusations that Jihad acted in a way that did not benefit the state, the Criminal Court ruled earlier that the case could not proceed due to mistakes made during the investigation.
The prosecution had also previously filed charges against Jihad to recover MVR 1.1 million for the period during which he used a Rehendhi flat allocated to him when he was Vice President. However, this case was later withdrawn.