Former Vice President and Tourism Minister Ahmed Adeeb Abdul Gafoor and Hamid Ismail have appealed their conviction over the Maldives Marketing and Public Corporation (MMPRC) embezzlement case with High Court.
Adeeb, Hamid, and former Managing Director of MMPRC – Abdulla Ziyath were convicted for embezzling USD 5 million in acquisition cost received by MMPRC from Kureddhoo Holdings for Lh. Maabinhuraa.
Adeeb and Ziyath were sentenced to 8 years and Hamid two 2 years and 18 days by Criminal Court.
Both Adeeb and Hamid’s defense attorneys have confirmed to “Sun” that they have appealed the conviction.
Meanwhile Ziyath’s defense attorney said that they haven’t submitted Ziyath’s conviction for appeal yet.
State witnesses testified that Ziyath was given the USD 5 million cheque, and that he handed it over to Adeeb.
They said that the cheque was banked to Millennium Capital – a company which Hamid has shares in - in June, 2014.
Witnesses testified that Adeeb instructed for three cheques to be prepared - totaling USD 4 million – and handed them over to a shareholder of Montalion International with the signature of the Managing Director of Millennium Capital, and then pocketed the remaining USD 1 million for himself.
Bank statements of both Millennium Investment and Montalion International show that the money was transferred into bank accounts of both companies, while bank statement of MMPRC show the acquisition fee was not banked to their account.