The Bank of Maldives (BML) has withdrawn its civil case against former Football Association of Maldives (FAM) president Bassam Adeel Jaleel after he settled an outstanding Visa Gold credit card debt of MVR 89,997.
Bassam, currently serving a nine-year prison sentence for embezzlement and money laundering, made the payment after BML filed the case in Civil Court. On Wednesday, Judge Mohamed Easa Fulhu dismissed the case at the bank’s request, confirming that the debt had been cleared.
This is not Bassam’s only financial dispute. Earlier this year, he was ordered to pay MVR 314,714 to a private individual after failing to return borrowed funds. The judgment, issued in his absence, included MVR 269,714 in principal and additional costs of MVR 6,000 and MVR 25,000. It remains unclear whether this payment has been made.
Bassam’s criminal convictions stem from the unauthorized transfer of USD 10,000 from a FIFA account held by FAM at Bank of Ceylon into his personal account between July and August 2018. He was found guilty of treason and money laundering.
A separate case is still pending against him for allegedly embezzling over USD 1.2 million (more than MVR 18 million) sent by FIFA to FAM. His defense team recently argued that national authorities cannot investigate FIFA-related funds without FIFA’s consent, a claim the Criminal Court rejected, affirming that criminal jurisdiction lies with the state.