PG asks for confidentiality of 7 witnesses against Bassam

Prosecution in the ongoing fraud and money laundering case against former Football Association of Maldives (FAM) president, Bassam Adeel Jaleel, on Tuesday requested a confidentiality order to protect sensitive evidence.

This order relates to the trial over a $9,999 deposit from FIFA into Bassam’s personal account.

The charges against Bassam stem from an alleged incident on August 26, 2018, when he deposited $9,999 into his personal from FAM’s account.

He is now facing charges of money laundering and embezzlement, with the funds said to have been used for personal expenses, including payments to Glacier Investments, a company he and his wife own, as well as rent payments for his flat.

If convicted, penalty for the fraud charge is 1 year, 7 months, and 6 days in prison.

The money laundering charge carries much harsher consequences, with potential fines ranging from MVR 100,000 to MVR 1,000,000, or imprisonment for a period between 5 to 15 years.

At Tuesday's hearing, the prosecution highlighted the sensitive nature of the case, specifically pointing to statements from seven accounts opened with the Bank of Maldives (BML).

The funds, totalling $9,999, were reportedly transferred from an account opened in FAM’s name at the Bank of Ceylon to Bassam’s BML account. The prosecution has requested that these account statements, stored on a CD, be kept confidential to avoid unnecessary exposure of sensitive information to the public.

Despite this, the prosecution clarified that while they sought confidentiality, they were not attempting to prevent the defence from reviewing the evidence. If necessary, the defence can examine the evidence in the presence of the prosecution in court.

The prosecution argued that the information in these account statements could lead to significant community implications if widely released, justifying their request for a confidentiality order.

Bassam’s lawyer countered that he had not been made aware of any formal request for an evidence protection order prior to today’s hearing.

Judge Ismail Shafeeu confirmed that the form related to this request would be handed over following the day’s proceedings. Additionally, the judge indicated that the issue of evidence protection would be revisited in the next hearing.

At a prior hearing in May, the defence had requested more time to review certain documents, claiming incomplete access to key files. The judge had allowed the defence until October 23 to provide the required documents, as they had still not been submitted by the prosecution during today’s proceedings.

A subsequent hearing is set to take place later this month, during which the defence is expected to formally respond to the charges.

Beyond the current charges, the police continue to investigate further allegations of embezzlement involving Bassam and the FAM. The prosecutor’s office has confirmed that should these investigations uncover more evidence, additional charges could be brought against him in the future.