Former Maldivian President Ahmed Adeeb Abdul Gafoor has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in connection to the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) embezzlement and money laundering scandal.
Adeeb had pled guilty to all seven charges pressed against him in connection to the case in a hearing at the Criminal Court last week, as part of a plea deal between him and the Prosecutor General’s Office. However, the sentencing was postponed to this Monday after Adeeb asked for time to renegotiate a lesser sentence with the state than the 20 years he stood to serve under the plea deal.
However, Adeeb failed in his attempt to renegotiate for a lesser sentence, and the state, during a hearing at the Criminal Court earlier this Monday, asked Judge Hassan Saeed to issue a 20-year sentence.
The state had originally pressed Adeeb with more than 30 charges in connection to the case, but later withdrew the charges and pressed the seven new charges under a plea deal; two counts of accomplice to embezzlement, two counts of misuse of official capacity to obtain an undue advantage, two counts of money laundering, and one count of abuse of power.
He had previously been charged in connection to each of the transactions and offenses in the case that investigators linked back to him. Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem said in a press conference in July that investigators had collected enough evidence against Adeeb to press more than 150 charges and put him behind bars for 806 years.
He faces significantly lower prison time with the plea deal. The new charges, which will see him behind bars for 20 years, were produced by combining multiple transactions and offenses.
To be updated…