president Ahmed Adeeb has been sentenced to 20 years in prison
after pleading guilty to graft, money laundering and abuse of
power, court officials said October 6, 2020. (Photo by Ishara S.
KODIKARA / AFP)
Maldives former vice president Ahmed Adeeb has been
sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to graft,
money laundering and abuse of power, court officials said
Tuesday.
Adeeb was a close ally of ex-president Abdulla Yameen until
Adeeb was jailed for allegedly trying to assassinate the strongman
former ruler with a bomb on board his yacht in 2015.
The Criminal Court in an overnight decision also imposed a fine
of two million rufiyaa ($129,000) for Adeeb’s role in syphoning
money from the state tourism promoter during the former
administration.
He was accused of causing a loss of about $260 million to the
state in leasing islets for resort development and receiving
kickbacks from tourism companies.
Adeeb’s then boss, Yameen, is already serving a five-year prison
sentence after be ing found guilty in November of money laundering
during his tenure between 2013 and 2018.
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“Adeeb cooperated with the state in the investigation and
entered a plea deal,” a court official said adding that the 20-year
sentence was a “light punishment” for the crimes he admitted
to.
In July, Adeeb had been cleared of the charges by the Criminal
Court, but prosecutors appealed to the High Court which ordered a
fresh trial.
Adeeb was initially tourism minister and promoted to vice
president by Yameen, but the two later fell out.
Adeeb was jailed for 15 years after being accused of trying to
assassinate Yameen following a September 2015 explosion aboard the
presidential yacht.
However, Adeeb was cleared of the attempted assassination charge
after Yameen’s defeat at the 2018 re-election bid.
Adeeb left the country illegally in August last year but was
arrested in neighbouring India and returned to the archipelago to
face the latest corruption charges.
During his five-year term, Yameen had all his political rivals
either locked up or forced into exile.
-AFP
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