Bassam corruption trial: Hearing cancelled as police fail to arrest Ageel

A hearing in the ongoing corruption trial against Bassam Adeel Jaleel, the disgraced former president of the Football Association of Maldives (FAM), was cancelled on Monday, as the police failed to arrest Mohamed Ageel, the association’s former finance chief, after he failed to honor a court summons to provide testimony in the case.

The cases against Bassam and other top officials from FAM stems from the allegation that they embezzled over USD 1 million in funds provided by the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) to FAM.

In October, Bassam was convicted of corruption and money laundering in one such case, putting him behind bars for nine years.

Ageel, who himself is charged as an accessory to money laundering, had been supposed to testify at Criminal Court on Sunday.

However, he failed to appear in court, prompting the judge to order the police to arrest him and produce him in court.

But the hearing on Monday was cancelled after the police failed to arrest Ageel.

The reason for this is unclear at this point.

The police launched a special investigation into the FAM on October 22, 2023, on orders from the then-prosecutor general Hussain Shameem.

This investigation uncovered multiple incidents of corruption, including in 2021, when Bassam allegedly embezzled USD 1 million out of an USD 1.9 million loan provided by FIFA to disburse funds to football clubs during the Covid-19 pandemic, and used it to purchase luxury apartments in Hulhumale’.