Bassam requests additional time to handover apartments

Bassam Adeel Jaleel, the embattled former president of the Football Association of Maldives (FAM) has requested additional time to complete the handover of two apartments he had allegedly bought from FAM funds to Maldives Police Service.

Police served a notice to Bassam to hand over the apartments by Sunday which read that the apartments will be seized to Police custody if he fails to do so.

Sun inquired from the Police whether Bassam had handed over the apartment, to which they responded that the former FAM chief had requested additional time to complete the handover.  

In this regard, the Police said a letter was sent via his lawyers in which he requested to extend the deadline to hand over the apartments to October 31^st.

Police said they were preparing to provide a response to his request.

Bassam is under investigation for multiple cases of embezzlement and money laundering.

The Police have asked the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) for charges against Bassam and others involved in the case.

The police investigation uncovered that in 2021, Bassam embezzled USD 1 million out of a USD 1.9 million loan provided by the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) to disburse funds to football clubs during the Covid-19 pandemic.

He used over MVR 3 million in FAM funds to purchase two apartments from Amin Avenue.

The payments to Amin Construction – the developer of Amin Avenue - were made in three installments.

Investigators also found a fake paper trial was set up to make it appear like an equivalent amount of Maldivian Rufiyaa was transferred to FAM’s bank account to replace the embezzled USD 1 million.

The police have asked for criminal charges against Bassam, Amin Construction, FAM’s then-finance head Mohamed Aqeel, and Hassan Waheed (Dhona), another former FAM official.

Bassam, Aqeel and Dhona are suspected of embezzlement, fraud and money laundering.

Bassam also faces more charges as the police investigate additional cases related to corruption within the FAM.