Court Finds Charges Against Amin Construction Not Proven in FAM Case

The Criminal Court today ruled that money laundering charges against Amin Construction in connection with the misuse of funds belonging to the Football Association of Maldives (FAM) were not proven, after finding insufficient evidence that the company had facilitated the laundering of association funds in the purchase of an apartment at Amin Avenue.

The case concerned transactions linked to two apartments at Amin Avenue, which prosecutors alleged had been purchased using FAM funds during the tenure of former FAM president Bassam Adeeel Jaleel.

In his ruling, Judge Mohammed Misbah said the prosecution had failed to prove that Amin Construction facilitated money laundering. The court heard that USD 1.2 million belonging to FAM had been deposited with Amin Construction to be exchanged into Maldivian rufiyaa and that the money was later handed over in cash to Hassan Waheed, an employee of FAM who was also an accused in the case.

Prosecutors argued that Amin Construction had prepared cash vouchers to indicate the money was returned to FAM, while in reality the funds were never deposited into any FAM bank account and were instead used to purchase an apartment for Bassam. Amin Construction did not dispute that the dollars were deposited with the company, but denied allegations that the money was misappropriated or used to pay for Bassam’s apartment.

The judge said there was no evidence to support the claim that the cash handed over to Hassan Waheed was used to buy the apartment. He noted that the prosecution relied mainly on the similarity between the amount paid for the apartment and the amount handed over, but said there was no documentation showing that the funds were deposited with Amin Construction for the purpose of purchasing the property.

On that basis, the court ruled that the charges against Amin Construction were not proven, as it had not been established that FAM funds were used to buy the Amin Avenue apartment.

However, the court reaffirmed earlier convictions against Bassam for fraud and money laundering. Judge Misbah said there was no evidence that the rufiyaa obtained from the exchange of FAM dollars had entered any FAM account. The court found that Bassam had paid cash for the apartment and that the payment was made by another individual on his behalf.

According to the ruling, Bassam deposited more than MVR 6 million over a period of 61 days to finance the apartment purchase. The judge said such a large sum could have been explained by a loan, grant or business income, but noted that no evidence had been presented to show that Bassam had received such funds, nor had any such claim been submitted to the court.

Bassam previously lived in an apartment formed by combining two penthouses, which he was ordered to hand over to police under a court order on the grounds that it was allegedly purchased using FAM money. While Bassam claimed the property did not belong to him, the purchase agreement was signed in his name.

Bassam has been serving a prison sentence of more than nine years and faces additional trials in court related to other charges.