The second legal counsel for Bassam Adeel Jaleel, the former president of the Football Association of Maldives (FAM), who has been charged with embezzling funds sent by FIFA, has also withdrawn from the case.
The second legal counsel for Bassam Adeel Jaleel, the former president of the Football Association of Maldives (FAM), who has been charged with embezzling funds sent by FIFA, has also withdrawn from the case.
In the FAM embezzlement case, Bassam was initially charged with embezzlement and money laundering. While several hearings of that case have been held previously, Bassam's first appointed legal counsel had withdrawn from the case.
Subsequently, additional charges of money laundering and embezzlement were filed against Bassam. He then appointed another lawyer for his defense. The Criminal Court decided to proceed with all four charges against Bassam together.
During today's hearing, the presiding judge stated that Bassam's recently appointed lawyer had also notified the court of their withdrawal from the case through a letter today. Therefore, the judge asked if he needed additional time to appoint a lawyer.
Bassam stated that he wished to proceed with the trial with legal representation. Consequently, the judge granted Bassam 10 days to appoint a new lawyer and scheduled another hearing for the 30th of this month. The judge stated that if he cannot appoint a lawyer by that hearing, he would have to respond to the charges himself.
The first two charges against Bassam were filed because he allegedly transferred USD 10,000 from FIFA funds to his personal account and used it for personal matters, according to the Prosecutor General's Office.
The PG Office stated that while Bassam was serving as FAM president, he transferred USD 10,000 from FAM's account at Bank of Ceylon, which had received FIFA funds between July and August 2018, to his BML account in August 2018 by submitting documents to the bank. After deducting bank charges, USD 9,999 was deposited into Bassam's account.
According to the PG Office, after transferring USD 1,910 to another person's account, the money was deposited into the account of Glacia Investment, a company in which Bassam and his wife Aminath Maureen have shares, and was used for various company purposes.
Additionally, the charges state that Bassam used this money to pay rent for the Rehendhi flat he had rented and for other matters unrelated to FAM.
In this case, the state has requested the court to recover the USD 10,000 for the state. The basic punishment for this crime is a fine between USD 10,000 and USD 1 million, along with imprisonment for 5 to 15 years.
In the embezzlement charge related to this case, it states that the dollar transfer from FAM's account to Bassam's personal account was submitted to the bank as a dollar sale transaction. However, since FAM has not received that money to date, this was considered embezzlement, leading to that charge. The basic punishment for this crime is imprisonment for 1 year, 7 months, and 6 days.
The second embezzlement charge was filed alleging that Bassam embezzled USD 1.2 million from FAM to purchase an apartment from Amin Construction's 'Amin Avenue.' If proven guilty of this charge, the punishment is imprisonment for one year, seven months, and six days.
The second money laundering charge was filed because he signed an agreement to purchase an apartment with eight rooms and ten bathrooms on the 12th and 13th floors of Block A of Ameen Avenue, and under this agreement, out of the total MVR 25 million (including GST) to be paid to Amin Construction, he paid the booking fee and commitment fee by transferring money from FAM's dollar account to various companies and paid it to Amin Construction.
If proven guilty of this money laundering charge, the punishment is a fine between MVR 100,000 rufiyaa and MVR 1 million, plus imprisonment for 5-15 years. In addition to these charges, the state has requested to recover USD 1.2 million from Bassam as compensation for damages to FAM and to seize his penthouse for the state.
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