Final hearing in Bassam's case to be held this month

The final hearing of the case involving two charges against former Football Association of Maldives (FAM) President Bassam Adeel Jaleel has been scheduled for this month. 

The charges are being pressed against Bassam on allegations that he misappropriated funds sent to FAM by FIFA. 

Bassam has denied the charges of corruption and money laundering raised against him. In today's hearing in the case, witness statements were taken. 

Today, court heard the testimony of defence witness former FAM Exco member, medical doctor Ahmed Shakeeb. He stated that FAM had issued an approved allowance of USD 3000 to Bassam every month. He said that the allowance was not regularly deposited after the Covid-19 pandemic, with some instances of the allowance being deposited in bulk for a number of months. 

After Shakeeb's statement, the judge announced that taking witness statements have now been concluded. He announced a hearing on September 23 on witness statements, and a hearing on September 29 for closing statements. This will then be followed by the verdict. 

PG Office has said that when Bassam was serving as FAM President, USD 10,000 from funds FIFA had deposited to FAM's account in Bank of Ceylon in July and August 2019 had been transferred to Bassam's BML account in August 2018 through submitting documents to the bank. As the amount was deposited after deducting bank charges, USD 9,999 was deposited to Bassam's account. 

Of these funds, USD 1,910 were deposited to another person's account, and then to the account of Glacier Investments, in which Bassam and his spouse Aiminath Maureen hold shares. The money was then used for the company's purposes, the PG Office has said. 

The remainder of the funds were also used to pay rent for a Rehendi Flat that Bassam was renting, and for other purposes that were not relevant to the FAM. 

Under money laundering charges, the State has appealed to court to seize the USD 10,000. The charge carries a penalty of fines between USD 10,000 and USD 1 million, and a prison sentence of between 5 to 15 years. 

The corruption charges state that funds had been transferred from the FAM account to Bassam's personal account through submitting documents to the bank claiming it was for dollar sales. However, the equivalent amount in MVR for the said funds has still not been received by FAM, which indicates that this is corruption and misappropriation. This charge carries a penalty of a 1 year, 7 months and 6 days' prison sentence. 

Bassam also has an additional case of money laundering and corruption against him, also involving FAM funds. The trial for these charges are being held separately.