Jailed former VP Adheeb with a pistol as he opens an MNDF shooting event
Jailed former Vice President Abdulla Adheeb declared in a letter to the Supreme Court that he is willing to expose the truth behind a hand gun that was found in the residence of former Defence Minister Mohamed Nazim, which had landed the latter in jail over illegal weapon’s possession.
Mihaaru has confirmed that Adheeb, who is currently in Dhoonidhoo Detention Centre, stated in his letter that former Defence Minister Nazim was not aware of the pistol nor has any information on how it was found in his residence.
The letter was sent to Supreme Court a day before the government closed its institutions for the Eid al-Fitr holidays at the end of Ramadan.
Adheeb claims that he knows the truth behind the pistol along with three bullets found in Nazim’s house of which, he assured Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed, Nazim has no knowledge.
Claiming to be aware of the reasons behind the incident, the perpetrators and others involved in it, Adheeb proclaimed that he is prepared to testify in court and expose the whole truth to the public. Reiterating that the pistol and bullets did not belong to Nazim, he further claimed that he can prove that the former defence minister was unaware of the plot.
Mihaaru was not able to receive comment from Adheeb, Nazim or any of the authorities regarding this letter yet.
Nazim is currently serving a jail sentence of 11 years over the pistol found in his apartment in capital Male in January 2015. The High Court upheld the lower court’s jail sentence on Nazim despite finding neither his DNA nor fingerprints on the weapon.
However, amidst the appeal hearing at the Supreme Court, Police disclosed on June 21, 2016 that former Vice President Adheeb’s DNA was found on the pistol. Despite the new evidence, Police stated at the time that it was early to say that Nazim had been framed.
Nazim’s lawyers accuse a police officer by the name “Asif” of planting the pistol in Nazim’s residence, claiming that there are witnesses to the crime. However, the state has denied the accusations and refused to bring the alleged witnesses forward.
The former defence minister had filed to appeal his long jail sentence. However, the Supreme Court decided on June 26, 2016 to reject the case, six days after Police revealed that Adheeb’s DNA was found on the pistol. The Prosecutor General’s Office had also forwarded the DNA report to the Supreme Court by then.
In a letter to Nazim’s lawyers, the Supreme Court declared that the High Court’s decision to uphold Nazim’s jail sentence was not in violation of judicial and constitutional laws, and thus his appeal was not accepted.
Meanwhile, Adheeb is sentenced to 33 years in jail over his involvement in the biggest corruption scandal in the country and for orchestrating an assassination attempt on President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom in September 2015.