Shammaan accused of taking bribe to release detained expat

Former Controller General of Immigration Mohamed Shammaan Waheed was summarily dismissed in relation to an allegation that he took MVR 500,000 from an expatriate amongst a group detained with large sums of money in exchange for his release, Mihaaru News reports.

A source close to the case is cited as having told Mihaaru News that the expatriate who was released after taking this bribe is one amongst a group of expatriates detained from a guesthouse while in possession of a large amount of money.

"After receiving reports of a group of expatriates being in a Male' guesthouse with a large amount of cash, Immigration officers went there in plain clothes and detained seven of the expatriates, with MVR 530,000 in cash that was found on them. After they were taken to the detention centre, one of them was taken in an Immigration vehicle the next night and released on to the street," the source said.

They said that it is believed it was the leader of the group that was released.

"The investigation so far has found that after releasing the person on the street, two persons who work with the Immigration Controller had taken the bag of cash and gone to Shammaan's residence."

The others in the group of expatriates were not released from detention, they said.

After Shammaan was dismissed from his post with these allegations, his residence was searched by Police last night, where they seized cash and other items. No confirmed information has been received as of yet about the amount of cash or other items that were seized.

So far, Police have only said that an operation was carried out last Wednesday in relation to an investigation into allegations that some Immigration staff abused their positions and took undue benefits from expatriates. In this operation, one residence was searched, and three persons were taken into police custody, they said. It is so far unclear whether there is a connection between these persons and Shammaan.

After Shammaan's dismissal last night, former Commissioner of Police Ahmed Faseeh was appointed as Controller General of Immigration.