Intend to appeal Amin Construction acquittal: PG

The Prosecutor General's (PG) Office has said that they intend to appeal the Criminal Court's decision today to dismiss charges against Amin Construction for allegedly facilitating money laundering linked to former Football Association of Maldives (FAM) President Bassam Adeel Jaleel.

As per a statement released by the PG Office, even though the Criminal Court has ruled that the charge of money laundering upon Bassam where transactions that include Amin Construction have been proven, the PG Office sees that Amin Construction have been acquitted in violation of judiciary and legal regulations.

And so, the statement reads that they intend to go to the High Court in order to appeal the ruling that includes Amin Construction.

However, as the trial needs to end and a complete report received before a verdict can be reached, the statement reads that they will decide whether they will appeal or not once the PG Office receives the report.

The prosecution charged Amin Construction with money laundering in act of deception in aiding Bassam's transactions that were done to purchase two Amin Avenue apartments with FAM funds.

Amin Construction has been accused of aiding money laundering in connection with the purchase of two apartments at Amin Avenue in Hulhumale', which Bassam allegedly bought using misappropriated FAM funds.

Delivering the verdict, Judge Mohamed Misbah said it was proven that USD 1.2 million belonging to FAM had been deposited with Amin Construction to be exchanged into Maldivian rufiyaa. The converted cash was then handed over to Hassan Waheed, an FAM employee who is also an accused in the case.

The prosecution argued that Amin Construction prepared cash vouchers showing the money was handed over to FAM, while in reality the funds were not deposited into any FAM bank account. They alleged the money was instead used to pay for Bassam’s apartment.

While Amin Construction did not deny receiving the FAM dollars, the company maintained that the money was handed over and was not used to pay for Bassam’s apartment.

Judge Misbah said there was no evidence to support the prosecution’s claim that the cash given to Hassan Waheed was used to purchase the apartment. He noted that the only basis for the allegation was that the remaining amount owed for the apartment was close to the amount handed over in cash.

“There is no documentary evidence to show that the money deposited with Amin was intended for the purchase of the apartment,” the judge said, adding that no documents proved the alleged funds were paid to Amin Construction for that purpose.

As a result, the court ruled that the charges against Amin Construction were not proven, as it could not be established that the exchanged FAM funds were used to buy the Amin Avenue apartment.

Even though the charges were not proven against Amin Construction, charges of fraud and money laundering were proven against Bassam in the case. The verdict states that Bassam was given a 23-year prison sentence along with a fine of MVR 44 million. Bassam also has to pay FAM USD 1.2 million within six months.