President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu said tonight that the scourge of corruption that has plagued the Maldives for ages can only be eliminated by treating all those suspected of being involved in such cases equally in accordance with the law. President Dr. Muizzu said this after the Prosecutor General’s (PG) Office terminated the agreement made with former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb and the executives of SOF Company who were involved in circulating the embezzled funds in connection with the MMPRC scandal.
President Dr. Muizzu said in a post on “X” that he welcomes the PG’s decision to nullify the agreements made by former Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem, which gave certain privileges to some parties and agreed not to file additional charges against them in the major MMPRC embezzlement case, and to instruct the relevant authorities to investigate the cases suspected against them and send them to the PG’s Office.
“The scourge of corruption that has plagued this country for ages can only be eliminated by treating all those suspected of being involved in such cases equally in accordance with the law,” the President said. In a statement issued tonight, the Prosecutor General’s (PG) Office said that PG Abbas Shareef has decided today to terminate the immunity and cooperation agreements with Adeeb and three others in connection with the MMPRC embezzlement cases.
They are:
1. H. Samara, Ahmed Adeeb Abdul Ghafoor
2. M. Land of Garden, Ahmed Ishfah Ali
3. M. Cessna, Mohamed Allam Latheef
4. G. Oivali, Mohamed Hussain
In addition, the agreement with Abdullah Ziyath, the former Managing Director of MMPRC, was terminated in August 2022. According to the PG’s Office, the PG decided to terminate the agreements because although the agreements were made to facilitate the investigation of the MMPRC embezzlement case and to obtain cooperation in recovering the money lost to the state, the investigating agencies have informed that Adeeb and others are not providing adequate cooperation for the investigation of the case and the recovery of the money lost to the state.
With the termination of these agreements, the PG said that the police and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) have been instructed to proceed with the investigation of the cases suspected against these individuals, which could not be pursued due to the agreements, and submit them to the PG’s Office as soon as possible. Adeeb was previously sentenced to 20 years in prison after being found guilty of seven charges related to the MMPRC’s 1.2 billion rufiyaa embezzlement. Along with that sentence, Adeeb was also fined two million rufiyaa.
Adeeb’s sentence was reduced and he was released in connection with the MMPRC embezzlement during the presidency of former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. That decision drew criticism from many towards Solih. Adeeb was released under the president’s discretion under the Clemency and Sentence Reduction Act. Adeeb was sentenced to 20 years in prison and fined two million rufd to 20 years in prison and fined two million rufiyaa in 2020. This was a reduced sentence given with a confession agreement with the state.
Adeeb had been in jail since the presidency of former President Abdulla Yameen. However, Adeeb was under house arrest due to various health reasons. And on some days, he also received treatment abroad.
