MP Nazim sentenced to life in prison

The MP for the Dhiggaru constituents Ahmed Nazim has been sentenced to life (25 years) in prison by the Supreme Court.

He was convicted of using the staff of Namir Engineering Pvt. Ltd., a company he holds a share, to present bids under four nonexistent companies and winning the bid to buy 15,000 Maldivian flags from the former Atolls Ministry.

The sentence from the High Court and the Criminal Court says that looking at the witness testimonies presented by the prosecution, Nazim cannot be accused criminally since the witnesses were the people who physically committed the crime.

Overruling the sentence from the Criminal Court and the High Court, the Supreme Court’s sentence today said that the witnesses are innocent since they are staff of Namira Company and follow what they are told to do. And they did not benefit from the crime and so are acceptable as witnesses against the head of the company.

The sentence also said that since the records of the Atolls Ministry show that the MVR 1,425,000 Nazim acquired through corruption has been paid back, with the request of the prosecution, the court would not order Nazim to pay back the money.

The sentence said that cheques and records show that the money was paid to the Atolls Ministry from a Bank of Maldives account under Namira Company.

It also says that the witness testimonies and statements from the prosecution and the defense prove that the bid for the estimate was won by corruption by the staff of Namira under the instructions of Nazim and the heads of Namira Company.

Under Article 73-C-2 of the constitution says that if convicted of a criminal offence and receive a sentence of more than one year, he/she would be no longer an MP.