The High Court of the Maldives has concluded the hearings of the appeal launched by the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) on the decision by the Criminal Court of the Maldives to dismiss the bribery charges pressed against Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment Ahmed Mahloof.
On November 24, Mahloof was charged with bribery in relation to the corruption scandal of Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC). The charge sheet presented by the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) stated Mahloof had received a bribe of USD 33,000 from the funds embezzled through MMPRC to vote in favour of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) bill proposed by the then-administration, when he was a member of the parliament.
Following review of the charges, the Criminal Court ruled that the evidence presented by the PGO was not strong enough to proceed with the trial. The decision was appealed by the PGO at the High Court of the Maldives.
The appeal hearings were concluded by the High Court on March 13. During the appeal hearings, the PGO argued that the Criminal Court judges cannot decide whether a charge sheet can be proven or not during the preliminary stages of the trial where a decision is made on accepting the case.
Following the end of the appeal hearings, the High Court announced the final ruling will be issued on the appeal during the next hearing.
The case against Mahloof had been investigated by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). As per the investigation report of ACC, Mahloof had arrived in the Maldives from Malaysia just in time for the parliament sitting held on August 27, 2014, where he voted to pass the SEZ bill. ACC further noted Mahloof had submitted a payment receipt to prove that the USD 33,000 deposited by SOF to his account was part of a currency exchange transaction. However, ACC said there is no solid evidence to prove that the funds were transferred for currency exchange.
The charges against Mahloof were initially forwarded by ACC to the PGO in June last year, following which Mahloof was suspended from his duties as the youth minister. However, the suspension was revoked in October.