Shamaan sentenced to 25 years in prison

Former Controller General of Immigration Mohamed Shamaan Waheed has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after being found guilty on three charges.

The verdict hearing was scheduled for 4:00 pm on Tuesday.

The Criminal Court on Tuesday found Shamaan guilty of three offences: accomplice to theft by extortion, misuse of authority for personal gain and money laundering. The case involved the arrest of a group of foreign workers in an illegal operation carried out with several Immigration employees, during which MVR 530,000 was extorted from one of them.

He denied all the charges.

However, the Criminal Court on Tuesday ruled that Shamaan was guilty of all three charges. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison, broken down as follows:  

• 15 years for money laundering  

• 08 years for extortion  

• 02 years for abuse of official position  

Shamaan said the case was being framed by certain people on the orders of Home Minister Ali Ihusaan. He said he was sure he would be sentenced in the case and therefore decided to disclose information about it.

He noted that he tweeted about the issue shortly before speaking to reporters. In those posts, he alleged that Maldives’ main gateway, the border control system, had been sold to certain individuals by Home Minister Ihusaan. He also wrote that President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu had called him directly on several occasions as he tried to stop the move and refused to comply.

Meanwhile, Senior Government Spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef (Mundhu) on Tuesday denied the remarks Shamaan attributed to President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu. Attorney General Ahmed Usham also denied the allegations made against him. Minister Ihusaan has not yet commented on the matter.

Shamaan’s family had earlier alleged that he was arrested because he intended to expose corruption cases involving Minister Ihusaan, and that he possessed a video related to the matter.