Supreme Court denies right to appeal High Court decision to acquire Nasir family property

Supreme Court of the Maldives has informed Ahmed Nasir, the son of late President Ibrahim Nasir, that there was no ground on which the right to appeal a High Court decision in 1986, by which the Maldivian government acquired Nasir family properties in Malé, can be granted.

Ahmed Nasir requested the Supreme Court to grant leave for appeal of the case few weeks ago, intending to appeal the High Court decision which ordered acquisition of all the property in Ibrahim Nasir’s name located in Malé. High Court decision ordered such acquisition as forfeiture upon a conviction following charges of corruption against Nasir.

The 3-page response sent to Ahmed Nasir by the Supreme Court said that in case where a person had not initiated a legal action in his lifetime in a matter related to himself as an individual, existing laws in the Maldives did not give his heirs the right to start the action after the person's demise.

The response given by the Supreme Court stated that Ibrahim Nasir was given the right to attend the court and answer the charges laid against him, or to appoint someone to represent his case, and that he had chosen not to use the opportunity. As such, there are no grounds, according to the Supreme Court, on which it can be considered that Nasir ever wanted to defend himself against the charges.

The Supreme Court said that in accordance with the principles of law, any person is himself entitled to defend himself against any accusations of criminal commission. Ibrahim Nasir was given the chance to do so in the case heard by the High Court in 1986 and he did not use that opportunity.

“Ibrahim Nasir died 22 years, 9 months, and 21 days after the High Court of the Maldives made a judgment in case number HC/84 30, on the 22nd day of the 11th month of the year 2008, and until his dying day, Ibrahim Nasir had not communicated any desire to take legal action to defend himself against the High Court judgment”, read the letter sent by the Supreme Court.

Following the decision of the Supreme Court, Ahmed Nasir, who is presently in Sri Lanka, told Sun via SMS that he had no comments on the decision, although he expressed disappointment.

Ibrahim Nasir, now officially regarded as the hero of Maldivian independence, left the country in 1978 while still in office as President, and was then accused of defrauding huge amounts of public funds and using them for acquiring immense personal wealth. He died in self-imposed exile in Singapore in 2008, and his body was brought home and served a state funeral.