Court nears completion of case against ex-FAM chief Bassam
The case relates to USD 10,000 from FIFA’s 2018 deposit being transferred to Bassam’s personal account on 26 August 2018.
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The Criminal Court has concluded hearing witness testimonies in one of the cases against former Football Association of Maldives (FAM) President Bassam Adeel Jaleel and announced that three more hearings will be held before the case is concluded.
The case relates to USD 10,000 from FIFA’s 2018 deposit being transferred to Bassam’s personal account on 26 August 2018. The prosecution alleges that a portion of the money was used for Bassam’s personal expenses, including payments to Glacier Investments, a company linked to him and his wife, while USD 2,000 was spent on rent for the Rehendhi flat.
At Sunday’s hearing, FAM executive committee member Ahmed Shakeeb testified as the final witness. Shakeeb, who also works in the Ministry of Sports and oversees medical affairs for FAM, football clubs and the national team, told the court that the FAM Emergency Committee had decided to pay Bassam USD 3,000 as a monthly allowance.
He added that he did not know whether the payments were made regularly and explained that, due to financial constraints following the COVID-19 pandemic, allowances for committee members were not consistently paid. Shakeeb said he had also received payments for multiple months at once and was still owed 22 months of allowance.
Shakeeb’s testimony was consistent with statements from earlier witnesses. After the hearing, presiding judge Ismail Shafiu announced that the next two hearings would be held on 23 and 29 September, with the third hearing to follow.
Under the law, a judgment must be delivered within one month of the summary statement, although in practice sentencing is often delayed.
In a separate case, Bassam faces charges of fraud and money laundering, along with two other individuals and Amin Construction. The prosecution alleges that Amin Construction used USD 1 million from FAM funds to purchase two penthouses developed by the company, supported by falsified documents to suggest repayment. The funds are said to have originated from a USD 1.9 million COVID-19 relief loan provided by FIFA to assist clubs during the pandemic.
