The High Court on Monday overturned the Criminal Court’s verdict sentencing Jumhooree Party's founder Qasim Ibrahim to three years, two months and 12 days in jail over bribery charges.
The Criminal Court issued the verdict last year after finding Qasim guilty of offering bribes to parliamentarians. While the sentence barred the local tycoon from attending to his lawmaker duties, his position in parliament has been reinstated with the High Court's decision to overthrow the lower court's ruling.
During the verdict hearing of Qasim's appeal case held on Monday afternoon, the High Court's Chief Judge Shujau Usman declared that the three judges of the appellate court unanimously agreed that the Criminal Court's sentencing of Qasim Ibrahim was in violation of judicial and legal policies.
Chief Judge Shujau Usman noted that the Criminal Court held the final hearing and sentencing of Qasim's bribery trial in absentia, depriving him of his constitutional right to be tried in person. He stated that the statements of both the prosecution and defence indicate that Qasim was not granted his rights accorded by the Constitution and Criminal Procedure Code.
Judge Shujau stated that if the procedural steps in a trial are incomplete, thus depriving the accused of his rights, any verdicts issued in such cases would be deemed illegitimate.
The High Court further highlighted that the lower court had not properly taken Qasim Ibrahim's poor health into account during his trial. He emphasised that Qasim had been rushed to intensive care at ADK Hospital during his trial, and that doctors at both ADK and Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital had advised Qasim Ibrahim to seek further treatment overseas.
In its verdict, the High Court highlighted procedural violations in the Criminal Court's trial proceedings.
Chief Judge Shujau noted that the lower court had once thrown out Qasim's bribery case mid-trial when the prosecutors did not turn up at a hearing. However, after the state filed the case again, the Criminal Court had referred to the statements and documents submitted during the first trial as part of the second, which violates the Criminal Procedure Code which was in effect at the time.
The chief judge further stated that when the Criminal Court imposed a travel ban on Qasim Ibrahim upon suspecting that he was preparing to leave the country, the court had done so in conflict with the Criminal Procedure Code. The High Court pointed out that according to the Code, travel bans could be imposed upon requests made by law enforcement institutions, and that such requests also required certain conditions to be met. Judge Shujau declared that the lower court had seized Qasim's passport in violation of the Code.
However, Judge Shujau stated that the Criminal Court's decision to accept and proceed with the case, after the state resubmitted it following its rejection, was lawful. Though Qasim's defence had protested that the court could not proceed with the case since it was thrown out, the High Court noted that the lower court had rejected the case in the wake of the prosecution requesting to postpone it, and that it did not count as the state withdrawing the case.
Qasim Ibrahim's appeal of the case was presided by Chief Judge Shujau Usman, Judge Mohamed Faisal and Judge Hassan Ali.
Although he was sentenced to over three years in jail, Qasim Ibrahim had been allowed to leave for medical treatment to Singapore, and afterwards he resided in Germany under political asylum. He returned to Maldives recently this year, after the High Court released him on bail until the end of his appeal.
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