Former Managing Director of the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC), Abdulla Ziyath, has been sentenced to an additional 12 years in prison by the Criminal Court.
Ziyath, who is already serving an eight-year prison sentence in connection with the MMPRC scam, faced charges of misappropriating substantial funds allocated to MMPRC in 2014 for various purposes to private companies. The indictment stated that Ziyath transferred a significant sum of money to other companies and embezzled funds designated for the Maldives Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) to purchase dollars from the Maldives Ports Limited (MPL).
During today's hearing in the Criminal Court, the prosecution revealed that Ziyath had entered into a plea agreement in which he pleaded guilty to the charges. Under the terms of the agreement, Ziyath has accepted a four-year prison sentence for each charge and has also agreed to cooperate in the efforts to recover damages resulting from the fraud, according to the prosecution.
The prosecution filed three charges of fraud in the case against Ziyath.
When questioned about the plea deal, Ziyath said that he accepted the charges and viewed the confession agreement as favorable. He further said that he did not require the assistance of a lawyer.
Judge Ibrahim Zihuni declared Ziyath's confession as valid and recognized the confession agreement as legitimate. Given that Ziyath's confession substantiated the offense, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison," the judge said.
Ziyath is currently serving an eight-year prison sentence for his involvement in the Lhaviyani atoll Maabinhuraa lease case. However, he is serving this sentence under house arrest.
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