Criminal Court issues travel ban against ex-VP Adeeb

A court order has been issued to ban former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb Abdul Gafoor from leaving the country; within hours after he walked free after the court threw out seven charges pressed against him in connection to the MMPRC embezzlement case.

Maldives Police Service has issued a statement confirming the Criminal Court issued a travel ban order against Adeeb on Tuesday night.

The Prosecutor General’s Office instructed the police to petition for a travel ban order following its decision to appeal the Criminal Court’s ruling earlier this Tuesday, which declared the charges against Adeeb invalid.

The Criminal Court ruling prompted the Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem to call a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, during which he announced that his office will appeal the decision with the High Court within the next two days.

He also criticized Judge Ismail Rasheed, who presided over Adeeb’s trial.

Shameem said he found the decision was legally unsound, and planned on lodging a complaint against the judge with the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).

Adeeb had been pressed with seven charges. The charges of money laundering, embezzlement, graft and abuse of power were pressed against him based on an investigation into the MMPRC graft case conducted by the Maldives Police Service, Anti-Corruption Commission, and Corruption and Asset Recovery Commission.

He had been set to confess to all seven charges under a plea deal, but later said at court that he was forced to sign the plea deal in exchange for medical furlough.

The Criminal Court had previously issued an order to keep Adeeb jailed pending the outcome of his trial. But with this Tuesday morning’s decision to push the case against Adeeb out of the court, he has walked free.