Lawyer of Qasim Abdul Kareem, former manager of Bank of Maldives - F. Nilandhoo Branch – sentenced to eight months and 12 days in prison for obtaining and releasing confidential information regarding a client – has requested Maldives Correctional Service for his release.
In a letter sent to MCS on Tuesday night, lawyer Ahmed Nazim Abdul Sattar said that his client had been in police detention since February 18. And that Qasim had now served more than the duration of his prison sentence.
The lawyer submitted the Criminal Court sentence issued on Tuesday, along with documentation proving Qasim had been kept in police detention since February 18 along with the letter.
Qasim was found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of two charges against him; leaking confidential information of a bank’s client, and obtaining confidential information regarding a bank’s client.
He was sentenced to 6 months in prison for leaking the confidential information, and 2 months and 12 days in prison for obtaining the confidential information.
Criminal Court ruled that though Qasim professed to have leaked the confidential information with good intentions, he had failed to prove it to court.
He had blown the whistle on the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) embezzlement case – the largest embezzlement case to hit the country in recent history.
He leaked bank account statements which proved how millions in MMPRC’s embezzled money were deposited from SOF’s bank account to personal bank accounts.