Former Immigration chief Shamaan arrested; accused of taking MVR 530,000 from expat

Mohamed Shamaan Waheed, the former Controller General of Immigration, was arrested by the police on Friday night, less than a day after he was dismissed over allegations of corruption.

A police spokesperson confirms that Shamaan was formally arrested after he arrived at the Sergeant Adam Haleem Criminal Investigation Building for questioning.

Shamaan was dismissed from his role as the head of Maldives Immigration on Thursday night. In a statement shortly after the news of his dismissal broke, the police said they were investigating a case involving “several employees of Maldives Immigration who misused their authority to gain undue benefits from expatriate workers.”

Investigators raided Shamaan’s residence in Male’ the same night, and seized “a large amount of cash and electronic devices.”

In a statement on Friday, the police said that the investigation has uncovered that a group of Immigration officers working in sections other than the taskforce or the risk management section – who are usually involved in identifying and detaining irregular expatriates – abused their authority to raid a migrant accommodation building.

Multiple expatriates were detained with large amounts of cash in the raid.

Investigators found that a day after, one of the expatriates – who was taken into custody with MVR 530,000 in cash - was released from detention at midnight on orders from Shamaan.

The officers involved in the raid met with the expatriate on the street, took the money from him, and entered the building where Shamaan residences carrying the money.

However, the police did not specify the amount of money later found in the raid on Shamaan’s residence.

The police have also arrested three other suspects in the case, but have yet to disclose their identities.

They were brought before the Criminal Court for their remand hearing on Friday. Two of the suspects were remanded in custody of the police for 10 days, while the other was remanded for three days.

Shamaan was appointed as Controller General of Immigration on November 19, 2023 – two days after President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu took office.

He previously worked at Immigration for 14 years, before he was fired from his job during the former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s administration.

He was replaced as the Controller General of Immigration by former Commissioner of Police Ahmed Faseeh on early Friday, mere hours after his dismissal.

Shamaan’s dismissal from the role of Controller General of Immigration came as a surprise to many, as he gained praise for a crackdown on illegal immigration – a longstanding issue in the Maldives.