Ammaty’s passport seized pending outcome of appeal of acquittal

The High Court has ordered the seizure of the passport of Ahmed Moosa Mohamed (Ammaty), the Director of SeaLife Global, pending the outcome of an appeal on his acquittal on dozens of charges he faced on allegations of defrauding over 200 tenants out of millions in booking fees for a planned apartment complex in suburban Hulhumale’.

SeaLife announced its 3,000-apartment housing project, the SeaLife Complex in Hulhumale’, back in 2015.

280 tenants paid a booking fee of MVR 50,000 (some more than MVR 50,000). But the SeaLife Complex was never built.

The cumulative total of the booking fees collected by SeaLife is estimated to be upwards of MVR 14 million.

Ammaty had been pressed with 42 charges of fraud and embezzlement in connection with the case.

The Criminal Court acquitted him of all charges Thursday.

The judge decided that the charges against Ammaty were based on transactions that were civic in nature, and not criminal, and that he should be prosecuted through the civil justice system.

The Prosecutor General’s (PG) Office, on Monday night, announced that it had lodged an appeal before the High Court last Saturday, challenging the decision of the Criminal Court. The prosecution is contesting the lower court’s evaluation of the evidence and its interpretation of the statutory elements of embezzlement, maintaining that the determination that the matter is exclusively civil in nature is legally void.

In conjunction with the appeal, the PG Office applied for a travel ban order restraining Ammaty pending the outcome of the appellate proceedings. In response, the High Court issued an order on Monday directing the seizure of his passport.

Ammaty, who had an Interpol red notice out for his capture as he evaded authorities since 2019, was arrested in neighboring Sri Lanka in February 2021. He was extradited to Maldives in March, and charged with 42 counts of embezzlement in May of the same year.