Bassam appeals four year prison sentence for fraud

Former Football Association of Maldives (FAM) president Bassam Adeel Jaleel has appealed against the Criminal Court’s four year prison sentence for embezzling association funds.

Bassam’s lawyer filed the appeal at the High Court on 5 January.

He was sentenced to four years in prison after being found guilty of depositing USD 10,000 (MVR 154,000) from a FIFA payment made in 2018 to FAM, into his personal bank account during his tenure as FAM president.

Bassam was also convicted of money laundering in the same case and sentenced to five years in prison. That verdict has not yet been appealed at the High Court.

Earlier this month, the Criminal Court also sentenced Bassam in a separate case involving the embezzlement and laundering of funds sent by FIFA to FAM as Covid-19 relief loans for football clubs.

In that case, he was convicted of fraud and money laundering and sentenced to a combined total of 23 years in prison, along with a fine of MVR 44.7 million. The court also ordered Bassam to repay USD 1.2 million to the Civil Court within six months, ruling that the funds should be returned to FAM.