State requests for order on Criminal Court to look into Nazim

The State has appealed to the High Court to issue a ruling to nullify the Criminal Court order stating that there is no room for a criminal prosecution case against Parliament Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim.

The State made the appeal in High Court today after the Criminal Court had shut down three criminal charges of deceit and treachery against Nazim. The court said that there is no room for criminal charges.

During the court hearing today the state prosecutor said that in Nazim’s deceit and treachery cases, the Criminal Court had acted against the procedure set to follow for criminal case proceedings, and that the court had not taken into consideration any of the evidence put forth by the prosecution.

The prosecutor also said that the case was carried out in a manner contrary to the non-discrimination clause in the constitution, and that a conviction cannot be reached in the case where proceedings were carried out in contradiction to the normal court procedures.

During today’s court proceedings, Nazim had opposed the statements by the State saying that the State had appealed the case based on a lie. Nazim’s attorney said that the while the State claims that the case was concluded without following proper procedure, the State was allowed due opportunity to fully present their case.

While the State says that the witnesses they had proposed were not summoned to the court for questioning, Nazim’s attorney said that the witnesses proposed by the state were not summoned because they were not credible witnesses.

Nazim was accused of proposing bids under the names of different companies, without their knowledge, for the purchase of 220 harbour lights. The bidding for the harbour lights was called for by the previous Ministry of Atolls. This was said to be carried out by the employees of a company named “Namira Engineering” for which Nazim was the Managing Director.

Nazim was also prosecuted for a case involving 15,000 national flags for which too, the previous Ministry of Atolls had called for bids. Nazim was accused of employing Namira employees to propose estimates using fake names of non-existing companies and winning the bids through treachery.

Another case involves the purchase of sound systems, also for the previous Ministry of Atolls where estimates were proposed to the Ministry in a manner which it was wrongfully stated that the ministry had called for estimates of such sound systems. These systems were needed for the mosques in the islands at that time. This was said to be carried out by three companies of which Nazim held shares, by utilizing the employees of a company named Neyza Enterpises. They had eventually won the bids for the sounds systems.

The Criminal Court ruling states that the investigation statements show that the basis of the prosecution is founded on the actions of the employees of the company and that, while these parties are not prosecuted, these parties who committed the actions were accepted as witnesses to the case, and that the Managing Director Nazim has been prosecuted as an individual. It also states that, reflecting on the information collected during investigation, based on Sharia and the Laws of the State, the actions of Nazim regarding the case cannot be condemned as criminal.